


Reverse Fool's Absolution

by Malignant_Thorn



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akechi Goro Lives, Akechi Goro Redemption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Ending, Gen, Light Angst, Persona 5 Protagonist Has A Palace, Persona 5 Spoilers, Some Humor, a lil shipteasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-06-03 14:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 62,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19465693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malignant_Thorn/pseuds/Malignant_Thorn
Summary: In a universe where Joker took up Yaldabaoth's deal, the general public are now bound by the chains of sloth forever. He had abandoned the Phantom Thieves in the depths of Mementos as the lone "Phantom Thief" for his own satisfaction and praise. Fate now shines on the second Wild Card of the deck, who rises up from his hiding after realizing something was sorely wrong in the world. With all hope lost in the Trickster who succumbed to the false god's temptation, Goro Akechi and his newfound resolve grants him the power of the Fool to fix the world the old Fool had abandoned for his own goal of redemption.





	1. Beginning of the End

December 15th, 2016 was the day he was “killed” to the Phantom Thieves, and reported missing to the rest of the world. In truth, he had ran off to avoid the risk of Shido assuming he cowardly ran away. Judging by the cognition he had of his own son, it would seem that would exactly be the case for the merciless prime minister’s assumption. Thanks to the lack of care or formality in an average motel, the ace detective utilized his tools, savings, and indirect connections to falsify an alternative name and become a transient occupant. Giving the direness of his situation, though, he was prepared to eventually own tenancy rights to the motel if all failed in the Phantom Thieves’ mission to steal Shido’s heart.

It was a rough, wild ride for Goro Akechi. He thought it couldn’t possibly get any more extraordinary than revealing his true intents to someone, let alone the entirety of the Phantom Thieves, nor reaching the point of desperation to purposefully drive himself insane to kill off the aforementioned group. After his fight against the other Fool and his many close friends contrasting his lack thereof, he was not only physically defeated, but also mentally. They persisted to reach out to him, even after all of the horrible things he had done in the past and to them in the present, only for Shido’s cognition of the broken boy to kill him behind the now closed-off wall separating him from the group one final time.

Well, so they thought.

Akechi had narrowly escaped with the absolute paltry bit of strength he had left. Admittedly, it was more of a heat of the moment reaction as he refused to be killed off by someone as shameful as his horrible father’s own perception of him. The truth remained that Akechi had lost every bit of will after dropping his soft, charismatic façade. He would’ve gladly died if only it was by the hands of someone more justifiable, but the bulkhead door was slammed shut. After the two gunshots delivered on his side, Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves had reluctantly evacuated after assuming he had perished in the draw.

He had no direction. He was dead to the world, Joker, and the thieves at that point on. All he could do was go into hiding to avoid any of Shido’s subordinates scavenging for him.

It was now Christmas Eve, a little more than a week following his dormant status. Joker, Morgana, and the rest his friends succeeded in eliminating Shido’s distortion given the man’s nationwide confession on the 18th, but Akechi still remained in hiding. He had nowhere to go, his pride had completely diminished. He was a husk of misery, no longer an “ace detective” or “detective prince” as that would immediately be redacted if attention was back on him and someone exposed his many years of crime regarding the mental shutdown cases, serving as Shido’s accomplice, and solving the cases he himself had been the culprit of.

“…Attention?”

Akechi leaned up from his bed, the place he grew accustomed to after losing the will to get up. It was abnormal for him, as he never particularly enjoyed being even the slightest bit unproductive, but there wasn’t much to his newly established boundaries. After all, he was confined to a shitty motel room with only a television, his phone, and laptop to keep him entertained.

 _That’s right…_ Akechi looked at his faint reflection on the glass of his phone on his nightstand. His shaggy brown hair was tousled, dark circles underneath his dullened crimson eyes. He wore his usual uniform every day, as all else was abandoned in his apartment. The harsh wounds and lacerations he had gained from fighting the Phantom Thieves weren’t nearly finished fading away, but at the very least they didn’t sting as much.

That was when his phone’s screen activated upon a notification. _More Shido and anti-Thieves propaganda._

Akechi’s brows knit irritably seeing the name of his father being defended. It frustrated him immensely to see so many supporters despite his public confession the evening of the ballots.

It hit him.

“The public seems to only be talking about Shido…” Akechi felt his jaw twitch with disdain upon picking up his phone and reading the weeks' worth of news he intentionally declined reading or watching to help clear his mind. His fingers itched around the remote on the other side of the nightstand and activated the TV for the first time since his arrival.

He could hardly believe it that every news channel and talk show was being dominated by the people’s despair over Japan’s future and lamenting Shido, some even cursing the Phantom Thieves more for his change of heart which they dismissed as ruthless threats and that they forced Shido into ruining his image.

 _Something’s off… Is the general public truly this dependent on having Shido lead them that they would go as far as to warp his confession into evidence against the Phantom Thieves?_ None of the Phantom Thieves’ prior targets even despite their high reputation had people still mindlessly defend them, and especially not to the point of this delirium.

He continued flipping through the channels in manic awe until stumbling upon one that took place outside. A pretty little newscaster was outside of the Diet Building, though her empty-minded cries over Japan’s future without their “beloved Shido” were no longer what struck Akechi’s attention.

_W-Wait…?! What the hell is happening in the background?_

Akechi’s eyes rounded, shooting up from his seat and sitting up at the edge of his bed to closer examine the surroundings.

The earth turned to a hue of red. Drops of blood rained down from the stormy clouds above in a seemingly never-ending stream. He could spot bone-like spikes shoot up from behind, and one even jut out right next to the woman in the foreground. 

“H-Holy shit… How do they not see any of this…?” Akechi bit his lip and rasped to himself, fingers digging into the shoddy mattress in anticipation, “No, _what_ is this?!”

The atmosphere reminded him a lot of that one place Joker would lead his group to whenever he wasn’t infiltrating places or living a regular teenage life. He never paid it any mind during his short time cooperating with the group save for when Joker picked him for his melee team, but the detective did keenly remember a one-off explanation that their other goal was to reach its depths.

Akechi gasped, rubbing his chin, “That’s right, Mementos. The people’s collective consciousness given a place… But why has it merged with the surface world? What the hell is going on…?!”

Minutes turned to hours until it was now nightfall. The informal room service woman seemed unfazed by the nearly apocalyptic surroundings of the world. Even mustering the will to leave his room in secrecy, everyone he could spot in the vicinity was unfazed, and considering the cameraman’s and newscaster’s lack of reaction to its first appearance, Akechi could deduce that nobody could see it.

“Well, almost an hour of eavesdropping for nothing. Nobody sees a damn thing,” Akechi returned to his room, closing the door behind him, “Hmph, all those ignorant trashy low lives seem to care about is Shido. I just hope this is all just one shitty dream…”

He took off his clothes and folded them sloppily with little motivation as he would only be wearing them again after waking up. It was hard for him to rest on such an uncomfortable mattress and in the even more uncomfortable coldness of the motel due to the lack of a working heater. Eventually he passed out from his trance of observing thoroughly through the news that was entirely about Shido and the Phantom Thieves, phone still in his limp hand.

His rest was interrupted by the loud jingle of a news show on the TV. It was around six in the morning. Groggily, Akechi looked over to the TV, which he had left on by accident due to being so wound up by the ominous situation. Glancing outside the window, Tokyo was still a hell on earth nobody seemed to recognize as such.

“…And the Phantom Thief has stolen our hearts again! The police have officially annulled the warrant for his arrest, citing that they were inadequate for the job amongst confessing many other wrongdoings within their division,” The TV was now on another news channel, this time with a more stoic male newscaster.

Akechi felt a sudden knot of unease lump in his throat as he swallowed, “Phantom… _Thief_?”

The newscaster went on to continue, “Many have conjectured that this sudden one-eighty was due to a change of heart. If so, the Phantom Thief has now surpassed over a hundred changes of hearts. On to other news—”

Grown accustom to theory building and a desire to figuring out the truth even despite his mostly fraudulent occupation as a police detective, Akechi’s face twisted as he was beaten on whatever the hell was happening to the world. He blindly changed into his clothes, as there was no point nor chance he could go back to sleep so easily.

“In the case of a reelection, there are still many are protesting for Shido to take office despite his status in the hospital—”

“Dammit, this again?!” Akechi lost his temper after slipping on his shoes and slammed the remote against the wall in utter agitation. _Way to wake up on the wrong side of the bed… Tch._

Almost simultaneously to the remote hitting the wall by the vexed, confused, and tired young man, the ground began to shake. The lights in the room flickered until completely shutting off, replaced by the same eerie red lighting as outside from an unknown force. Sharp bones sprouted rapidly from the ground, except this time it was more problematic as the room was very small.

“W-What? Dammit, what are you Phantom Thieves doing allowing this to happen out of all things?!” Akechi rose his voice, the first time in a while he genuinely had enough energy to protest, as a vine-like structure began to wrap itself around Akechi’s legs.

 _I j-just need to reach… t-the door…_ Akechi grit his teeth and felt his arm shake as he struggled to fight off his bounds and leave his room, seeing the veins in his arms pulse from wrestling against the vines’ grasp.

The perspective between his hand and the doorknob began to increase. He foolishly wondered if the door was expanding in size, but figured out that he was in fact shrinking. More specifically, he was being pulled into the ground, a dark glyph forming beneath him and eventually causing him to vanish from the area.

In a blink of an eye, Akechi’s vision quickly changed from a worn-down motel room plagued by Mementos to a high cliff. The sky above was a stormy sunrise. Akechi was near the very edge of the cliff fallen to his knees. He took off his tan peacoat and pat down on the immense amount of sweat he had accumulated from trying to fight off his restraints to reach the door only to be interrupted by a distorted, malignant voice.

“First you fail me, and then it turns out you lived? This could be troublesome for my ideal image…”

Akechi’s head jerked up, swinging his peacoat over his shoulder. _That voice…! No, it can’t be…_

The ground rumbled as a giant, silver and gold creature rose before Akechi’s eyes in front of the cliff. He towered feet—no, several hundred yards over his figure. Even if he was standing, there would be little more difference in comparison.

What seemed to be the head of the creature turned downcast to address the young boy once more, “I should have chosen a better pawn in this mission. You are the reason they were able to claim Masayoshi Shido’s heart, correct?”

It was the voice that had reverberated in his head upon awakening to Loki and the power of the Wild Card after reuniting with Shido during his 1st year when he was only fifteen.

“You… Yaldabaoth,” The name came to his tongue almost instinctively in a spat. Akechi shot his head up, face tight with absolute disdain, “God of control. You destroyed my future—my _life_ after enlisting me to assist Shido. I’m glad I failed you!”

“Hmph,” Yaldabaoth scoffed, “Typically I do not think it wise to dispose of an entity with so much potential… but given that the other one has willingly become my servant, there should be no harm in your _execution_.”

Surges of anxiety and fear stunned Akechi, but he fought through his paralysis to question the god, “The ‘other one’? My ‘execution’? It would be best you explain yourself. You’re a ‘god’ aren’t you? Explain what’s happened to the world! Why did Mementos fuse with the real world? How come people went from only talking about Shido and being against the Phantom Thieves only to praise them? The newscaster said ‘Phantom Thief’, and that he had claimed over a hundred hearts this morning. Something has changed, surely you have the time to elabor—”

Yaldabaoth boomed in anger after receiving an earful of Akechi’s influx of queries, “I do not have to explain anything to someone as worthless to the world now as you! You are beneath humanity, living in hiding. Do you truly have any value to the world you are dead to?”

The malevolent god conjured light from the sun above him, which then manifested into a bright arrow. Had Akechi not rolled off to the side, the light certainly would have killed him upon impact.

Akechi’s breaths hitched in his throat. He had saw the look in Yaldabaoth’s eyes hinting that he would be attacking, but he admittedly underestimated the intensity of the blow after noticing the large cavity in the rock beneath him where he previously stood.

“Now then…” four arms emerged from the wicked creature’s back, one holding a gun, the other a bell, a sword, and lastly a book. In the center of him was a sphere of red and black light, streaming out to the four limbs that had proliferated.

Akechi bit his lip, eyes rounding with intensity, “He’s charging…? Come, Loki!”

Akechi waited about awkwardly for a few seconds before stumbling back. Nothing had happened. If Yaldabaoth wasn’t charging for his next attack, Akechi surely would have perished at that moment.

“H-Huh…? Loki!” The desolate young man gambled for another chance, but still to no avail. Akechi fumbled through his pockets for his phone, turning it on to try and manually summon his Persona.

Only to discover that the Metaverse Navigator was now gone.

“Heheh…” Yaldabaoth intervened Akechi’s episode of panic and disbelief, staring down squarely at the young man, “Whether you are aware or are blind, your psyche has been vastly damaged. That saves me the trouble of abolishing your abilities as the Wild Card manually. Now you truly are useless.”

“That… that can’t be true,” Akechi’s left eye shut tightly, mouth quivering. He was now completely reduced to an eidolon to the world, not even his supernatural abilities holding any proof of his worth. “Loki! Robin Hood…! Dammit, come, Loki!” He repeatedly bellowed.

Yaldabaoth clearly was amused, having held back his attack. The god that had feasted on his misery emitted a low rumbling laugh void of any humor, instead containing promises of pain and torment. The red and black beam grew in size, “Pathetic mortal! Allow me to put you out of your misery… _Goro Akechi_.”

Akechi’s whole body shook as his attention was now squarely on the ominous beam in the process of driving right through him.

_Perhaps… this is for the better. I am lost to the world now, and I couldn’t even get any satisfaction if I showed up to Shido’s room to mock him anymore now that he’s a husk of guilt. I became superfluous to the world the moment I lost my Persona. I will not fight against my inevitable fate any longer._

These thoughts elicited a faint sob from the boy. Instead of fighting back, Akechi shut his eyes in miserable defeat, accepting his fall. At the very least, it was by the hands of a literal deity, though Akechi cared no longer, even if Shido’s cognition of him came back to shoot him. He lost all dignity, not even trying to mask how horribly he looked.

“Don’t give in… Move out of the way, please!” Akechi heard the sweet, mellifluous cry of a young girl echo in his head, contrasting the atmosphere that was fully against him. It had been so long since someone had tried to reach out to him, either being completely ignored or antagonized since going into hiding. Hearing the unfamiliar cry had overwhelmed him, as he at least wished to know who was behind it before perishing.

But his vision began to fade before giving out completely after being engulfed by the scorching beam of Yaldabaoth’s manifestation.

The last thing he remembered seeing was a radiant, sapphire-colored butterfly illuminating his cloudy gaze before darkness consumed his consciousness.


	2. Rise of a New Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akechi awakens in the Velvet Room. He meets the real Igor and Lavenza who explain everything that happened, such as why the public only cared about Shido, why Mementos briefly fused with Tokyo, and why everything seemed back to normal Christmas Day save for the "Phantom Thief". All of this leads up to the horrible realization that Joker had erased the public cognition of his friends and now indeed serves Yaldabaoth, the Velvet Room residents insisting that Akechi is the only one who can change fate.

The passage of time is nullified when one loses their consciousness, their senses, their state of reason. Such was Akechi’s case. After losing his vision to the red and black beam created by the amalgamate creature known as the god of control, all he could recall was being in a state of complete obsidian. No sound, no taste, no smell, nor feeling.

Complete nothingness.

“…chi… Ake—i!”

A high noise that sounded like a broken voice began to ring within his unconscious mind every now and then, except now it was beginning to continue rather than fading.

The voice was no longer broken up, the volume now stagnant, “Please, wake up. This is far from your conclusion.”

Darkness flashed white and then subsided into a calm hue of blue. Akechi shot up from either his seat or from lying down—he didn’t know which, as he was completely disillusioned. All he could confirm about his current status was that his head was pounding like hell. Questions surged his mind, his face flickering between a mix of expressions.

“Over here… Snap out of it!” The chiming, innocent voice which had echoed his head now sounded as clear as any average person’s voice. He would soon realize that the owner of the previously disembodied voice was anything but when he regained his sight.

His sharp, ruby eyes laid onto a young girl with a headband with various butterfly ornaments sitting over abnormally long, platinum hair. The girl’s skin was fair, lips a pale pink, and her clothes strangely resembled a blue Victorian era maid uniform. What struck him the most, however, were her eyes of gold. Focusing on them alone, Akechi had the feeling the woman wasn’t necessarily human.

Further scanning the room, the detective noticed a bizarre old man with a long nose that reminded him of his mask as Crow funnily enough. The humor subdued when Akechi fell back with a gasp noticing the man’s bulging, bloodshot eyes.

“A-Ah! S-Sorry…” Akechi clutched his thumping chest. When he tried to stretch his other arm, he felt it jerk back down by something cold and metallic as if it was being restrained by something.

It was then that Akechi was fully wakened from his daze in a bout of perturbance. He noticed that he was clad in a black and white prisoner uniform and handcuffs, and that he was residing in the confines of a cell after noticing the dark bars separating him from the little girl and the peculiar old man. The rest of the room before him was dominated by various shades of blue.

“Where am I? If these bindings are your doing upon Yaldabaoth’s orders, I won’t hesitate to put up a fight,” Akechi bit more than he could chew in the hopes of intimidating his supposed captors.

The little girl shook her head and refuted calmly, “How very foolish of you. Your physical body should have perished in that attack if it wasn’t for my interference. You should choose your next words more carefully. A thank you, perhaps?”

 _Tch, am I really being talked down by a little girl?_ Akechi griped in his head. He wanted to argue back, though the young girl sounded truthful in her claims, so the impatient young man refrained from any further insults.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room,” the elderly man with the long nose behind the girl spoke in a shrill yet hospitable tone, “I am Igor, the proprietor of this domain. Please forgive my assistant, Lavenza. A lot of misfortune has happened, both to us and the mortal realm.”

 _Velvet Room…?_ He cocked his head until a thought came to mind. Akechi remembered a one-off comment from Joker one time during their infiltration of the casino.

 _That’s right, I asked Joker where he kept getting those new Personas. He said that corner at a palace or Mementos’ entrance that he seemingly stared off into was some sort of azure prison with two wardens that would fuse his Personas into even stronger ones._ Akechi stared intensely at the little girl. _But there’s only one girl, and she looks more like a maid than a correctional officer. There truly are some things that I can’t understand._

“What are you staring at? Quit looking at me like that, creep!” Lavenza shouted and stamped her small foot on the ground.

Akechi was taken aback and blinked in surprise, shaking his head and looking anywhere that was away from her eyes, “My apologies again…” He then looked at Igor with curious eyes, “You seem to know about the fusion that occurred in the real world… The superimposition of Mementos over reality. What on earth happened?”

Igor cocked his brow at the boy before realizing his situation and how he had to go into hiding after betraying the Phantom Thieves and surviving Shido’s palace. The old man then answered, “Hmhm, I see… You have missed out on quite a bit since you left your former allies. You have met Yaldabaoth, though, correct?”

Akechi had a startling epiphany, running his fingers through his thick locks and using his other hand to pat away the oncoming beads of sweat on the inside of his shirt. “Yaldabaoth… Yes, I assume he’s the one behind the public’s obsession and dependency over Shido, given that the only ‘goal’ of his I could have failed upon granting me the power of the Wild Card was protecting his treasure.”

Igor chuckled, stretching out his hand, “What a keen boy, fitting of a police detective… Yes, Yaldabaoth had actually assumed my identity in the Velvet Room for a while, splitting poor Lavenza into two entities without any trace of her memories prior.”

 _I see, so those must have been the wardens he was talking about…_ Akechi concluded in his mind.

The room’s proprietor resumed, “Yaldabaoth’s goal ruling as the god of control could be easier achieved if the public became lazy, resting all of their trust and dependency onto someone of utmost importance. Even after his heart was stolen and he confessed his crimes, they were ultimately ‘declined’ and the public weaponized a warped truth against the Phantom Thieves.”

“That would make sense,” Akechi spoke his thoughts aloud this time, looking up at the dull ceiling above, “I missed out on quite a bit of news purposely. Though I may have eventually deduced something checking every day, seeing that the only thing people were talking about for an entire week was Shido and hatred towards the Phantom Thieves solidifies my theory that it was masterminded by a superior entity of some sort. Even Shido couldn’t have so easily influenced the entire country with no oppressors.”

“And the Trickster and his Thieves realized such,” Igor nodded in compliance for Akechi’s realization, “They pieced together that Mementos was still a palace, and that the only way the public could regain their free will again was by stealing their treasure in its depths… the Holy Grail.”

Igor fully caught Akechi’s interest. Even though his liaison with the Thieves was engineered merely to gain intel on their group and betray them later on, he did admittedly gain some mild curiosity himself seeing how fixated they were in reaching the superficially endless bottom of the large palace beneath Tokyo. If it didn’t go against his true nature, Akechi would cheer them on for reaching their goal had he still his cheerful, optimistic guise.

“But… if they reached the treasure, why has Mementos surfaced reality?” Immediately the boy’s hopes shattered with a horrific conclusion. He clutched onto two bars of the cell and leaned closely with an agonic look in his eyes, “Don’t tell me…” lowered his voice to a soft mutter, “Has Yaldabaoth won?”

Igor sighed uncharacteristically. Lavenza was the one to answer to his inquiry, despite her face filled with more dread than Igor’s, “Not for that reason… The Thieves were ejected from Mementos by the Holy Grail, which encroached into your world by the subconscious drive of society. Nobody seems to notice, save for the Trickster’s teammates and other allies,” Akechi felt unease as Lavenza’s eyes bore intensely into his own, “You lost your Persona and Wild Card abilities after your ultimate defeat, but the Trickster’s bond with you seemed to have at least protected you from being blinded from the truth by a veil of lies.”

“So the Trickster, Joker… He’s there in Mementos right now with the rest of them to fight the Holy Grail again, correct? Joker was never one to give up so easily, even considering that society’s collective consciousness is indirectly against him,” Akechi mustered a hopeful, light chuckle.

“I…” Lavenza’s voice cracked as she noticeably stifled a sob, “The Phantom Thieves disintegrated and disappeared from public cognition entirely.”

Akechi’s heart skipped a beat, his whole body freezing. “What…?”

There stood a little girl shaking and fighting back her sobs. Her elegant, otherworldly demeanor was no more, instead behaving just as any human in despair would, “My master’s imposter revealed his true colors and proposed a deal with the Trickster…”

It was so easy for Akechi to tell where the girl was going with her statement, but in the back of his head, he wanted to believe it was some sick joke. Instead of interrupting, he waited out her silence until she regained control over her trembling voice, looking up at the striking detective regretfully.

“The Trickster has forsaken his friends, allies, and humanity.”

“Bullshit!” Akechi barked at the young girl in anger. He eased back and felt his train of thought becoming muddled with almost the same insanity as when he revealed his true nature to the group, except this time it was more justifiable. Igor and Lavenza didn’t bother to altercate, leaving the disheartened detective to recuperate his control.

Akechi steadied his breath, “Joker—no, Ren Amamiya would never betray his friends. That damn bastard defeated me and every other foe in their way, constantly and obnoxiously assuring that he ‘couldn’t have done it without his precious friends’! If you mean to tell me that he threw away the one thing that the lack of caused me to become so miserable over, you better take it back however you can before I seriously break from these chains!”

His threats were absurd, and both keen Velvet Room residents knew humans well enough to see past his plastered anger. They _knew_ Akechi was heartbroken by the thought of the one person close to being his true friend abandoning the ones he grew inseparable to. Likewise, Akechi could tell Lavenza wasn’t lying again; the news praised only one Phantom Thief, and Yaldabaoth even referred to ‘the other one’ voluntarily becoming his servant. The only one ever on par with Akechi’s power was Joker, the other Wild Card user.

Lavenza wiped away her tears with her dainty, gloved hand and nodded, “I am sorry for such harsh news—”

“Dammit!” Akechi banged his fist into the cell bars before falling to his knees, “You said you saved me? Why?! To deliver bad news? You should have left me for dead, for once I’d rather be stumped on a case than seek to find its validity. This world’s just going to become ruin anyway.”

Igor intervened, shaking his head, “Such is the reason why you were granted salvation. You were the other Wild Card user, correct?”

Akechi scoffed, “Hmph, _‘were’_ is a very necessary word for my status regarding the Wild Card, or Personas and Metaverse access in general. The girl said it herself, I lost everything.”

Lavenza glanced at Akechi and made her way over to his cell. Akechi gulped, he felt her eyes bore straight into his soul from how intense her gaze became.

“You are the only one who can save humanity’s fall into despair. Everyone is oblivious, even the ordinary ones the Trickster guided and whom see the dark truth are unable to enter the Metaverse to rewrite it. The other Phantom Thieves are imprisoned in the depths, unknowingly awaiting a man who will never return to them,” Lavenza knelt down and slid a blue key between the bars’ gaps between Akechi’s legs.

The boy looked down, “A… key?”

“To the cell door.”

Akechi was still quiet, trying to comprehend all of the exposition he had gained.

Lavenza scowled, “Quit groveling on the floor and open it!”

On command, Akechi shook away the thoughts that weighed him down and stood up. He opened the cell door from the other side with the key the little girl had given him.

“Happy now? I emancipated myself, but ultimately, I’m still a prisoner. I literally can’t ‘save humanity’. I’m in the unfortunate position where I know and understand fully well of humanity’s eminent demise, but lack the power to make a change,” Akechi lamented in self-awareness.

“But that’s not true,” Lavenza’s blond brow knit irritably, objecting the hopeless boy’s claims. She stood on the tips of her toes to try and reach Akechi, but couldn’t reach even past his neck, emitting a dry snicker from the man.

Humoring the girl, Akechi leaned over. Lavenza took hold of his head by the sides of his face and furrowed both brows, “You _have_ resolve! You aren’t worthless at all, neither were you ever. You grew up in inconvenience where your true potential never shone. I know deep down that you wish not only to make amends with the Thieves, but to make reconciliate with the society you led on, do you not?”

Goosebumps formed on his arms, the depth of Lavenza’s words fermented in the back on his head, causing his lips to part in shock, “Yes… If there could be a way, I would… Hell, I even considered jumping in while they were fighting Shido’s shadow, but my injuries prohibited me from even moving without tensing up for a long time. I considered it, I really did, but my courage was lost after I assumed Shido would be the end for their journey.”

“But now I…”

Akechi’s voice was now hushed whisper, Lavenza giggling with her hands still on his cheeks, “…want redemption… Am I wrong?”

“No, you’re not,” The detective matched eyes with the girl’s again and nodded, straightening his posture firmly and staring at Igor with a hand over his heart, “Igor, was it? As impossible as it sounds in my position, I want to make a change.”

“I see… In a way, this journey you wish to partake will be your own rehabilitation,” Igor snapped his fingers, “But this time it is of your own accord to find it the way you see fit. Though I will intervene just this once…”

Akechi’s body was engulfed by a light, his prison clothes turning into his usual school uniform. _That’s right… I’m not worthless, nor a prisoner to this world’s shackles._ He moved his hands with ease now that they were no longer limited by cuffs. “…Dammit, I’m not gonna let some attic trash who took advantage of something as invaluable as company as a stepping stone to rule the world in the dark, serving some awful demiurge… I’ll take whatever he threw away!”

His head began to thump.

“H-Huh…?!” The previously stalwart detective jerked back, clutching his head.

Lavenza simply smiled up at the boy who looked to her direction seemingly for an explanation, “It appears you can still awaken. Such a powerful resolve is earning you the power of the Wild Card once more. Not only that, but it seems ‘Justice’ is no longer your Arcana. You are a jack of all trades… The Fool.”

“A… fool?” Akechi grimaced. He couldn’t tell if Lavenza was insulting him by calling him a fool, but was too caught up in his own pain to deliver a witty remark.

Lavenza smiled amusingly, “No, The Fool. Don’t be tricked by the name, The Fool Arcana does not mean that it can be taken lightly,” she remembered the exact words of one of her older sisters who aided a previous Fool’s journey, “It is zero in the tarot deck, the void all things begin from. You are awakening to the Trickster’s full power.”

“From where all things… begin? A-Ah!” Akechi’s breath began to rapidly increase, his chest pounding up and down fast. He used both of his gloved hands to clutch onto his head, jaw tight in agonic, splitting pain.

A familiar voice echoed sinisterly, “I am thou… Thou art I…”

 _Is this… who I think it is?!_ Akechi groaned to himself.

Blue flames shrouded Akechi, but he wasn’t at all charred from its heat. The voice continued, “Do not turn away any longer; I was always a part of you even before Yaldabaoth took control…”

Akechi wheezed, the horrible memories of his crimes storming into his head in a bitter flash. Instead of fearing it, Akechi embraced the fact that those were the things he would have to repent for. The stakes were high, just as the intensity of his chaos, but Akechi enjoyed the challenge he being granted.

He felt a mask cover his eyes. His fingers itched around it, attempting to remove it before realizing it felt like it was _glued_ on. While he couldn’t see it, he knew it didn’t belong to his attire as Crow. It felt like the Black Mask’s, void from the helmet.

Although granted the outfit he wore during his crimes, he was being given a purpose, and no longer would his death be just another number. “Loki…? Yes… Loki! _Arise_!”

It hurt like hell for the pained boy, but Akechi grasped the mask tightly and tore it off, a layer of skin over his eyes completely detached and matted with blood. The drops of blood which rolled from the upper part of his face down to his sharp jawline rolled onto the blazing ground, disintegrating into the flame.

 _S-So… This is what an awakening truly feels like!_ Akechi’s own voice rang through his head, completely caught up in his own euphoria from being given a purpose once more.

The flames coiled around Akechi’s being and his clothes transformed. He was in his Black Mask attire, save from the helmet he used to keep his identity ambiguous from his crimes. It only made sense that returning to Crow after everything that transpired would be near impossible. Loki was no longer transparent, emerging coyly from the remaining flame.

“I knew you had it in you. Perhaps this world will see light once more,” Lavenza applauded once Akechi’s senses were back to reality.

Akechi gave himself a firm onceover, staring up with a mixed expression at Loki as all of the memories surged through his head at a single glance, “I suppose I _can’t_ die anymore, least until this is all finished… But where would I even begin? What do I do?”

“…Your time here is running out, surprisingly. Your physical body is awakening from a week-long coma,” Igor looked heavenward.

Akechi’s posture wilted, “A… coma?”

“Yaldabaoth’s attack only partially connected somehow, but it was a fatal blow to the head,” Lavenza broadened Igor’s comment, “Do not worry, however. You are now in the care of someone you may have been familiar with in the past…”

The boy frowned, his confusion not any more quelled from her addition, “Someone in the past…? But the Phantom Thieves are imprisoned in Mementos you said, and Joker…”

Lavenza immediately continued before Akechi’s discomfort could reemerge, “It will come as a shock in the moment, but hopefully it will also give you a good idea on how this affects the natural world. It will also hopefully entice you to walk around and talk to the ones associated with the Trickster. Bonds are extremely crucial to expand the true power of the Wild Card.”

He wouldn’t have known any of that. Yaldabaoth was the one to give him his power all at once, and _Shido_ out of all people was the one who advised how he used it. He had no Igor or attendant to guide him.

“W-Well before I wake up, tell me what I need to do,” Akechi pleaded.

Igor shook his head, “…I’m afraid with the current situation we can’t put our faith in you so easily. Your objective is to go into the depths of Mementos and free the Phantom Thieves. Do so and bring them here, and then I shall show you all to your next objective.”

A light temporarily blinded Akechi’s vision, insinuating that his physical body was reawakening. Impatiently, Akechi scowled, “C-Come on, the entire world is at stake! You can trust me, I promise, just tell me how to defeat Yaldabaoth!”

“The last time we placed our trust into someone, he forsook all of humanity.”

Akechi stared down at Lavenza. He would have given a curt chuckle just as he did on talk shows from how deadpan and monotone Lavenza’s witty remark was if it wasn’t for the inappropriate situation.

“My bad, such an important detail slipped my mind. Forgive me,” his eyes drooped with concern for the little girl.

Lavenza threw the grimoire under her hand on the ground and shouted, “Hmph! You’ll be forgiven when you do as told! Forging bonds isn’t just a way to pass by the time. Power is granted by doing so, and that power will be the only way you can defeat Yaldabaoth. Do you agree to lend your aid, or will you rot away in that dirty motel?”

 _Bonds…_ Bonds was a word unfamiliar to Akechi. Every ‘friend’ he made was due to his charming front, and was only ever a stepping stone to gain acceptance and publicity. Power had no correlation, but now he was being told that it was pivotal to kill a _god_?

He had always wanted friends, however, and this power gained by doing so made it nearly mandatory. Maskless from his awakening, Lavenza could see the genuine sincerity in his eyes when he said “yes”.

Akechi’s vision began to blur again. She recognized he was awakening and her own eyes narrowed with satisfaction, “Ah, your time is approaching. Thank you… my trickster…”

The detective wheeled around as he was about to depart, face hot, “Y-Your… Pardon me?”

Lavenza’s eyes shut with a warm smile before realizing what she had called Akechi. Her cheeks immediately flushed a hot red as she squealed, “A-Ah…! Nothing! A slip of the tongue!”

“Let’s see… ‘my trickster’, was it?” Akechi teased the girl with a simper and a cheeky wink.

“R-Remove yourself! F-Filthy inmate!” Lavenza stuck her tongue out and spat on the ground like a child.

The beam of white engulfed his vision once more before his vision completely faded from the Velvet Room. He was awakening in the real world, in a more typical atmosphere than the blue prison. The first thing he saw after gaining consciousness was long, asymmetrical ashen brown hair parted off to one side and ending with a tip of mauve red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally done with the second chapter! Chapter 4 is when Akechi actually goes to the depths of Mementos to rescue the Phantom Thieves, but the next chapter focuses more on Akechi walking around Tokyo and witnessing the new changes himself by stumbling upon many of the confidants and other important figures. A little bit of filler, but does have an overall twist in the beginning that motivates him.


	3. Oblivescence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akechi gets taken in by a familiar former teammate's sister only to discover that reality still wasn't totally restored to normality. Alarmed by this sudden change, Akechi wanders the streets of Tokyo to meet with one person close to each Thief, resulting in the exact same outcome and fueling his motivation to free them in the depths of Mementos.

When Lavenza informed him that everything happening was mental, and that his physical body was in a vegetative condition under the care of “someone he may have been familiar with in the past”, Akechi filled with anxiety and disorientation. The few people with any real significance in his life manipulated him, despised him, or at one point _did_ try to insist camaraderie only for him to betray them. As far as he knew, Shido was now an empty husk of guilt being treated by his mindless followers and aides, the Phantom Thieves were imprisoned and forgotten in the real world, and Joker was completely out of the question now.

There was only one other person, probably the most passive towards him than the rest. Even with that in mind, Akechi wasn’t any less surprised when he recognized the face of the woman kneeling over him.

“Wha—?”

He was lying on the couch of an apartment he recognized fairly well. Its resident was fairly distant, but the one time he had been in her home after she was too tired from her work to drive home safely had been enough for the image to burn into the eidetic memory of the detective.

“It seems you’re finally awake. Even I was starting to get a little worried,” a mature, orotund voice brought the boy from his daze. Though it was attempting a softer, more hospitable approach, the tone was thick with enmity.

“Sae-san…” Akechi almost whispered, locking his astonished eyes directly at the older woman’s. He looked down and noticed the cold patch on his forehead beneath his bangs was an ice pack, and that the rest of his body was covered by a worn-out blanket. He sat up straight, catching the ice-pack and transferring its icy temperature to a bare hand, as his black gloves resting on a coffee table next to him. Another once-over of his surroundings ensured the boy that this was no longer a dream. The last time he saw Sae, it was after defeating her shadow in the casino before turn-coating and selling out the Phantom Thieves’ leader.

Sae’s tension didn’t cease, knowing instantly that she knew of his true self. She walked over to the front side of the couch and retrieved the blanket off of her ex-coworker.

Akechi rose a brow, genuinely confused, “Huh? No explanation, just like that… How come I’m not in prison right now? Surely, I would expect someone as justice-fueled as you to turn me in in a position as defenseless as a coma,” he risked a lighthearted jab after the woman remained silent, shrugging playfully, “Come on, where are the cameras?”

The no-nonsense woman jerked around with a choleric ire in her eyes, “I believe in a thing called _honor_ , Akechi. Maybe you should learn a thing or two about it considering how you tried to shoot someone cuffed and drugged in an interrogation room, or on a wider scale the entire nation with your goody-two shoes act while cooperating with Shido!”

The boy was taken aback by her words, mouth opened but no words leaving his lips.

Sae took a long exhale before averting her now droopy eyes in guilt, “Ugh… That was unbecoming. Sorry. I received a call from the motel you were hiding yourself in. I was apparently one of the only few contacts on your phone they could get a hold of when they found you knocked cold. I was shocked, angry even, but I had to see it for myself. You were there, though unconscious just as they said. That’s when I took you back to my apartment. Not out of any care or pity, but because I was beyond surprised. I had assumed you were dead.”

 _Well, that seems like a very Sae-san thing to do._ Akechi sighed in slight relief as at least some of his turbulence was sedated. He sank back into the couch and loosened his tie to cool himself off with the ice pack. He did have one final question, directing his piercing eyes at the woman once more, “I don’t have any uncertainty that all of that’s true, but why didn’t you turn me in? There’s a fine line regarding honor between kicking someone while they’re down and rightfully taking advantage of a defenseless threat. Regrettably, it’s definitely safe to say I fall on the latter end of the spectrum, no?”

The normally collected prosecutor’s mien phased into an uncharacteristic dourness. The edge in her sharp eyes had been filed, now clouded with confusion and forlornness of her own. For a split second it almost reminded Akechi of Lavenza’s when she was questioned of Joker’s fate. Such an unexpected twist in Sae’s behavior unfortunately certified to the world’s chaos.

“You do, but that still gave me no right to just hand you off like that when your crimes would easily earn you a life sentence. You’re only a kid, after all,” she admitted, I brought it up to a chief officer in hypotheticals such as your punishment _if_ you were discovered alive, but that’s when something strange happened. He was like… a husk. Completely unmotivated despite you being behind the psychotic breakdown and mental shutdown cases. I brought up Wakaba Isshiki, Kunikazu Okumura, the Minister of Transportation, all of the innocent lives affected or ended by the incidents…”

The detective winced as the woman listed off the horrible things he had done in the past as Shido’s pawn. _Don’t remind me any of this, dammit…_

Sae continued, too wrapped in her own mess to notice Akechi’s distressful face, “He was completely unmotivated. I got curious and asked around, and it was like that for the rest of them. All of them were nothing but tired, defeated men and women who didn’t even bat an eye about the idea that the murderer could have been alive,” she scoffed, “One of them even said ‘leave it to the Phantom Thief’. The police really don’t care anymore… They won’t even let me put Shido to trial.”

“A change of heart had to have occurred if such behavior isn’t just exaggeration,” Akechi sat up and stared at Sae with conviction, “You aided Ren Amamiya when he too was in hiding and learned everything after I… you know. Do you agree that he was the one behind their changes of hearts?”

Sae’s forehead creased, a normally ugly expression if it wasn’t for the woman’s natural beauty, “It have to have been, but I’ve never seen him since he left on Christmas Eve to try and supposedly change society’s heart in that Metaverse place…”

_Him…?_

A few moments of complete silence passed before Sae brought her head back up. “Come. Your suitcase with all of your belongings is in the spare bedroom.”

“I thought your apartment only had two…?” Akechi recalled touring around a little bit while Sae was changing into more casual clothes the one time he helped her navigate safely to her home. Was his memory failing him?

To his surprise, Sae chuckled lightly, gesturing him to follow, “Heh, what, you think I live with my boyfriend? I’m too busy with my job to even think about settling down for romance.”

Akechi felt his stomach twist, laughing back sheepishly, “Haha… Er… Sae-san? What about your sister? Makoto…?”

“Who…? Akechi, are you alright?”

The words stung the already unnerved young man with even more alarm.

_Something’s definitely off here._

Sae waited for an answer for a few seconds before turning around and looking up at the evidently taller young man. The genuine confusion in her eyes didn’t fail to bring him down a few sizes, however, as he shrank back with a terrified expression. She bit her makeup-red lip with concern, reaching her arm out to the boy who was hunched back, “A-Akechi?!”

“Pardon me… I need to go see something,” Akechi gulped, taking a few steps back.

“Akechi!”

The boy had darted out of the apartment before he could hear his name called out from the bottom of her lungs.

He dropped his caution at that point, having bigger problems than being discovered alive. Somewhere in the back of his mind, though, the lack of reactions upon seeing the boy running down the stories of Sae’s apartment only further cemented the oddity in the public’s behavior.

 _Shouldn’t these people be shocked to see me alive?_ One of said thoughts happened to make its way to the front of his mind.

Seeing that the entire world seemed as normal as he was used too upon shooting out the apartment’s double doors jarred him. It was brisk in temperature, and gentle flakes of snow fell from the cloudy sky above rather than harsh, bloody rain. There was no red filter cast over the world, nor bone-like structures drilled above from the ground below. The scene was peaceful, the people almost seemed rightfully tranquil rather than eerily when Mementos had fused itself with the world, but Akechi knew this was nothing more than an illusion. The civilians, whether alone, with a group, or with a significant other were nothing more than sheep whose free will and independence were sacrificed.

This was a world where the “Phantom Thief” shadow-ruled, and its inhabitants living in both fear and dependency. And judging from his discourse with Sae, Joker had abandoned his friends and wiped away any trace of them from the public’s cognition. Despite this, Akechi was too in disbelief to simply believe that Sae forgot her own sister. He sought out to find each person closest to the Phantom Thieves, as well as to readapt with society after shutting himself indoors for allegedly weeks.

So there Akechi was, running in absolute dread with the little strength he had while the rest of society strolled along peacefully, unaware of their chains.

“Let’s see…” the panicking boy whipped out his phone, “No better place to start with than Mishima Yuuki. If I recall correctly, he hangs around Akihabara a lot.”

Akechi knew little of Mishima’s personality, aside that he was a very average kid and one of the victims of Kamoshida’s abuse. He passed by him hanging out with Ryuji and Ren on occasions and acknowledged him as the timid butt-monkey of their shenanigans, nobody else really seeming to pay him any mind. The only reason he even came into his mind was because shortly before his leave to Shido’s palace, the police were trying to gain intel on the Phantom Aficionado Website after they “murdered” Okumura, and tracked the IP of the admin to Mishima.

 _He really is a poor guy._ Akechi reminisced what little he knew of the second-year while boarding the crowded subway. _Always ignored and the only ones who seem to care are the police who are on his tail._

It wasn’t hard for Akechi to spot Mishima, though with the location he found him entering Akechi felt a little bad that he had to be seen like that. A blue-haired boy with an overall average physique was entering Akihabara’s maid café.

The awkward detective winced, lips snapping to a fine line after muttering an “oh dear” under his breath. He even considered shirking back and going to someone else for information, but there was no point in traveling all this way only to turn back when he discovered his target so easily. Curiosity quashed his nerves as Akechi reluctantly followed behind Mishima to the maid café.

The peppy music and the cutesy décor of the café irked Akechi, but he shoved through its many customers, mostly geeky-looking males, and made his way to Mishima, who was sitting alone by a window on his phone. There was no doubt that he was probably updating some poll on the Phan-Site.

Akechi put on a warm smile, approaching the boy, “M-Mishima Yuuki, was it? I’m here to chat a little! Well of course, that is if you don’t mind my company,” he emitted a light chuckle at the end of his sentence.

Mishima’s brown eyes filled with surprise and his cheeks dusted red, assumedly because he wasn’t expecting nor wanting someone to recognize him in a place like this. Though as soon as those bewildered eyes leveled with Akechi’s, they quickly turned hostile.

“…Y-You! You’re Akechi, the guy who tried to sabotage R—the Phantom Thief’s reputation!” Mishima tried to shout, but it came out more in an orotund whisper as he didn’t want to garner any more attention.

 _R… Ren._ So it seemed both Akechi and Mishima knew of the Phantom Thief’s identity, but both found it best to keep things simple as possible during their encounter, referring to him by what everyone else called him.

“Please, I’m past that now. After all, I wouldn’t want to endure a change of heart,” Akechi scratched the back of his neck and smiled meekly with shut eyes, “I’m only here to investigate something, if you will. Do you know of a Sakamoto Ryuji?”

Mishima’s guard didn’t cease to drop, tension higher than ever, “W-What…? Never heard of him. Is that supposed to be a made-up name for your made-up career as a detective?” Mishima now began to stutter, “Y-You fraud…! Yeah, that’s right!”

Akechi wasn’t at all fazed; it was hard to be when an opposer was literally stammering and giving themselves metaphorical pats on the back. Instead, Akechi heaved a long sigh, “Ah… so you don’t know…” the detective decided to move on to his next person he would question, “Never mind then, how about a Su—”

“You!” A booming voice interrupted and contrasted the softer boy’s.

Akechi and Mishima immediately darted their heads to the direction the yell came from, as well as a few customers. It was a notably young man sporting a typical uniform of the Japanese police.

His fierce eyes void of any possible goodwill glinted intensely down at Mishima, “Mishima Yuuki, was it? I’m placing you under arrest for supporting a domestic terrorist.”

“W-Wha…! This c-can’t be happening! F-First Akechi talks to me, and now I’m being… arrested?! In a maid café, out of all places…?!” Mishima’s face was etched with terror as the officer stood the boy up from under his arm.

Akechi cleared his throat, reaching a gloved hand to the officer’s on Mishima, “Hey, let the poor guy go. You really think he’s any threat to our society because of some website?”

The young officer threw Akechi’s hand off from his, scowling at him, “You’re not gonna stop me, kid, are you?” The man’s face then filled with shock when he realized who the boy perceived as missing was, “Wait a sec, you’re—”

“Akechi Goro,” Akechi tilted his head and smiled with aggressive intent, “The ‘fraudulent detective’ you may have heard went missing. Not only that, but conspiring with Shido’s crimes at one point… You know,” the young boy’s charming face turned into one of menacing superiority, his tone darkening, “the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdown cases? How about you let go of Mishima-san. That is, unless you want to look just as Okumura did during that public interview where he later perished that same night…”

The officer immediately dropped his lease on Mishima, his previous display of boldness dissolving just like that as he stepped back, “I… I’m c-coming back with reinforcements! You made a grave mistake making yourself known… A-Akechi!”

Both boys watched as the officer ran out the maid café, Akechi helping the other to his feet while observing with mild amusement.

“Akechi…” Mishima’s eyes went wide, starting up at his upperclassmen, “You saved me, but why… Y-You realize they’re coming after you, right?”

The third-year sighed, becoming rather sullen in voice, “I’m not afraid. By the time he flees back to the station, I’m positive the Phantom Thief would’ve already taken his heart.”

The answer made Mishima feel a little alarmed, his brows upturned, “But… the Phantom Thief only takes the heart of the bad guys! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t at all agree with that young officer’s opinion towards him, but that’s just what it was… An opinion! In fact, I could have sworn I saw that guy in Shinjuku busting some club host using his clients for sex a few nights ago!”

He sounded just like a child to Akechi, discovering that the world wasn’t just painted in black and white. Akechi nodded, “That should be the case, but I’m afraid it isn’t… I should be going now.”

Right as Akechi turned his back, Mishima grabbed him by the shoulder instantly, “W-Wait…! You were about to ask me another person, right? I know it’s not enough to pay you back, but maybe it can pay back my hostility towards you? You don’t seem all that bad in person, Akechi-san.”

Akechi stood a few seconds before turning back around, remembering the next person he would interrogate, “Right, do you know Suzui Shiho?”

And so Mishima helped Akechi, at the very least knowing her, although it was no surprise. Supposedly after no longer needing her physical therapy sessions, Shiho moved from Shujin to Kosei to better focus on her academics and volleyball without being reminded of Kamoshida’s abuse. She was Ann Takamaki’s best friend, and remembered Ann stating a lot of the time after group meetings that she would be in Shibuya’s underground mall if they needed her.

Low and behold, there Shiho was, picking out clothes in one of the shops. He figured their confrontation would be a bit quicker.

“You’re Suzui Shiho, correct? I’d like to ask you something,” Akechi approached her as she was making her way to the register with a handful of casualwear.

Her dark ponytail whipped back as she turned her head around and looked up at Akechi with a confused look in her eyes, “Hm…? Oh, you’re Akechi. I thought you went missing?”

Her voice was soft, in almost a hush. Whether or not she always seemed distant, Akechi could tell that the Kamoshida incident had turned her into a far more reserved, disinterested girl than before. He almost choked back his question out of guilt, but he gulped it down, “Suzui-san… Y-You were one of the victims during the Kamoshida incident, right?”

He thought it couldn’t be possible for Shiho to look any more downtrodden than before, but she looked absolutely miserable.

 _Great…_ Akechi put his hand on her shoulder, only for Shiho to smack it off in retaliation.

“S-Sorry…!” Shiho realized what she had done, “I apologize, really, all you did was ask a simple question…”

Akechi wasn’t used to the position of comforting someone, but did try a little bit to ease her obvious discomfort, “N-No, my bad for bringing such a scarring incident up so bluntly. I only wish to inquire about one of the victims. Was there a Takamaki Ann involved in his assault?”

Shiho then dropped the clothes she was holding, hands now covering her mouth, “Ann?!”

Akechi’s eyes narrowed, “You _do_ know her…?” _But how would she…_

A few seconds passed between the two before Shiho shook her head and bowed, frantically picking up her clothes from the ground in front of Akechi’s feet, “N-No, I don’t… But for a second, the name did sound familiar. Now I feel like I’m forgetting something,” Shiho’s lip quivered, uttering under her breath, “Am I really that self-absorbed to not care about the other victims in that case…?”

The older boy rubbed the back of his neck and stood straight, “No, you must just be understandably overwhelmed still.”

Warmth filled Shiho’s mousy eyes, a faint smile on her pink lips, “Right… Thank you, Akechi-san. I get you might be confused by my gratitude, but it really has been long since I had a casual conversation with a boy after everything that happened to me…”

Something about Shiho’s appreciation made Akechi feel weak on the inside. He never expected the recognition earned by just being friendly with someone would feel so reassuring of his worth. Not only that, but he felt relieved in a way that he wouldn’t be leaving the girl totally miserable when he left.

Given that Shiho also went to Kosei now, Akechi contemplating asking of the status of the Kosei artist that went by “Fox” amongst the Phantom Thieves. He realized the young woman probably hadn’t been attending Kosei High for long, and simply asked of another student who had been there for a while.

Akechi laughed, “Please, I really didn’t do that much… If it isn’t much, do you know where I could find a Togo-san? She goes to Kosei High as well.”

Shiho rose her chin up, placing an index finger on her bottom lip in deep thought, “Togo-san… Togo-san… Oh!” she clasped her hands together as the name rung a bell, “You mean Togo Hifumi, right? She plays shoji most nights at the church over in Kanda. I’ve met her when I was at Kosei taking my entrance exams.”

He thanked Shiho, boarding the subway as fast as he could. After all, the trains would be shutting off for the night soon, and he still had two other places to visit before returning to Sae’s apartment.

 _A church. How ironic that I’d be finding myself in one of these._ The melodic organs played as the priest delivered a reading to the small audience. It wasn’t hard to spot Hifumi despite only seeing her on few occasions. A wooden shogi set was laid out on a pew next to a dark-haired, fair-skinned girl with dark green eyes sitting by her lonesome. The girl herself seemed absolutely absorbed by her own game.

“Excuse me,” Akechi made his way past the praying civilians and stood on the other side of Hifumi’s pew.

“Come, Lightning Metamorphosis Golden Promotion!” She shouted, completely oblivious to Akechi’s presence.

It wasn’t until Akechi waved his hand right in front of Hifumi’s eyes that she snapped back from her zone. She looked up at Akechi with a dissatisfying glare, “Hm…What do you want?”

Akechi hummed in amusement, “I’ll keep it brief, then. You seem busy with yourself… Do you know one of Madarame’s pupils who goes to your school? His name is Kitagawa Yusuke, a second-year.”

Hifumi stared blankly at Akechi before shrugging, averting her attention back down at her game, “Sorry, I’ve never heard of him.”

“Well, that’s that,” Akechi put a hand on his hip and sighed with exhaustion, “I’ll be on my way then.”

Just as Akechi was making his way out of the church, Hifumi’s eyes shot up when she realized who she was just talking to. She leapt from the pew to the aisle, surprising even the worshippers who were used to her intense shogi play, rushing to beat Akechi to the door.

“Hold on just a second!” She nearly tackled the boy, now standing between him and the door with her arms sprawled out, “You’re Akechi… the false detective prince, right?”

Akechi’s jaw went slack witnessing the one-eighty of the young woman’s behavior, not knowing quite how to answer to that.

Hifumi continued, “W-Well… I, too, was set up for publicity. I was a professional shogi player in the women’s league.”

 _That’s right…_ Akechi remembered hearing something about a beautiful “Venus of Shogi” whose mother was revealed to have set up her matches.

“My mother set my matches up,” Hifumi confirmed his thoughts, “Though I genuinely always had a love of shogi because of my father, I can’t help but notice the cruel glances of people who despised me afterwards,” Hifumi’s dourness quickly shifted to enthusiasm, the girl pointing firmly at the overwhelmed Akechi, “For that, I feel like we are connected by a spiritual level! Akechi-san, here is my number! Next time I’m available, let us play a match!”

Akechi nodded, taking out his phone and typing in the numbers displayed on Hifumi’s screen after she took out her own. The two exchanged farewells, and Akechi departed the church.

“To think I’d return from a church feeling _more_ exhausted…” Akechi wiped the sweat from underneath her bangs with his sleeve and looked up at the sky. The sun, for what little of it shone, had completely set. It was now nighttime. He looked down at the time on his phone, “10:45… The trains shut off at midnight, and Sae-san’s apartment is far away from here. It’d be best if I continue this tomorr—"

“ _Help_!”

Akechi’s ears twitched as the prolonged shriek of a woman rang in the air. Curious and having a little time to spare, the detective instinctively followed the direction the voice was coming from. Following the direction of the voice led Akechi to a back alley across the street from the church.

“Come, now… Be a good playmate for me, will you?” Akechi could practically _hear_ the sick smirk in the honeyed voice of a man.

The unknown woman sobbed, “P-Please… This is just our first date. Can’t this wait until s-some other time…?” She asked, though by the tone alone, there wouldn’t be another time.

The man ignored her pleas, forcing himself onto her and pressing her against the wall.

“Caught you, red-handed. Get off of her, unless you want to face the hammer of justice,” Akechi rushed over to the scene.

The auburn-haired man adorned in expensive business attire jerked his head back, an ugly expression on his twisted face, “ _What_?”

Akechi falsified a smile, snapping a picture of the scene on his phone, “Sugimura, was it? It would be quite a shame if this image of an influential political family’s heir was exposed. I say we negotiate. Let her go.”

The man rolled his eyes, smirking when he realized who was confronting him, “…Ha! Akechi! Who cares what a two-bit detective says! Tell the police, they wouldn’t believe a fraud. They’ll dismiss it as nothing more than a photoshopped image. Even if they did, they’d probably cover it up. No use for justice on this peasant woman…”

The look in the man’s eyes accompanied with “two-bit detective” pissed him off. Not only that, but the scene reminded him of the way Shido had taken advantage of his mother, using his political status and power over her as a means of covering up the crime. It was the exact image, seeing Sugimura using his status to manipulate average women. Akechi lost his temper, hand curling into a fist and socking him right in his nose, “You bastard…! And what if it also leaks out that you were forcing yourself onto the Okumura Foods CEO’s daughter, Haru?!”

The man covered his bleeding nose in repulsion, delivering a murderous gaze at Akechi, “Hrgh… ‘Haru’? Kunikazu never had a daughter, you fool… What, is this another false name for a false case under a false detective? I’ve had enough of you. Guards, get him!” He snapped his fingers.

Mentioning Haru was a mere slip of the tongue out of a flash of anger, but Akechi knew there was no backpedaling from his words. Akechi turned his head back at the woman Sugimura was attempting to claim, who sunk to the ground voiceless. He simply cocked his head back, and the woman stood up and ran off, leaving only him, Sugimura, and his two approaching guards.

Akechi’s combat skills thanks to the Metaverse granted him an upmost advantage against a simple brat who had everything handed on a silver platter and his two thickheaded guards. The detective escaped with minor injuries, though thoroughly exhausted. As if subconsciously, his retreat led him to the doors of Leblanc, the final place on his list he would visit before seeing himself off to the depths of Mementos.

The bell attached to the door of the cozy café activated as Akechi pushed open the door and sat himself on one of the booth stools.

Sojiro, who was absorbed in a magazine, used his free hand to gesture whoever had walked in out. He curtly spoke in his usual gruff tone, “Store’s closed. Come back tomorrow morning.”

The detective simulated a chuckle of false sheepishness, running his hand through his chestnut mane, “My bad, I could’ve sworn the store closes in a few minutes… I know it gets annoying when customers decide to come last minute like this, but it _is_ still an obligation to serve them, Sakura-san.”

Sojiro cocked a brow, the condescending tone sounding awfully familiar. The middle-aged man set down his magazine and looked over at the end of the booth, mouth hanging wide open in awe, “Wha— _Akechi_?!”

“Surprise…? Eheh,” Akechi chuckled again to his mistake.

Sojiro wasn’t having it. He plodded over in front of the boy from the other side of the booth. Many questions surged his head, mostly of how Akechi was still alive after what Ren told him what happened in Shido’s palace, but he shrugged them all off. He just wanted the awful brat to leave. “No way. Absolutely not. Even if nobody came to this café anymore, and you waltzed through the door, I still wouldn’t serve you. Go back home and make your own coffee.”

Akechi frowned, “So Sae-san never told you?”

The cold owner of the café stroked his dark, chinstrap beard, “Sae… You mean Niijima-san? That prosecutor lady?”

“I’m staying at her place for now. Long story short, I went into hiding out of shame after I decided to no longer work for Shido. The room service at the motel I was at caught me knocked cold in a coma, and contacted Sae-san to retrieve me. It seems I’ve earned back her trust, so no need to be hostile,” Akechi tried to mend his connection with Sojiro.

Sojiro opened his mouth immediately to bark back, but Akechi could tell he was too tired to ask any more question.

Akechi leaned forward in his seat, “…I suppose this is the part where I ask for coffee.”

Sojiro looked behind him at the clock and turned back to face Akechi, shaking his head, “It’s almost midnight now and you look pooped. You sure coffee’s the best idea right now, kid? Or is this about something else?”

Akechi chortled, “Ah, you caught me, Sakura-san. It’s the latter, but if it helps you comply, I’ll take a coffee to go for the morning. Any kind will do,” he made an order, remembering how Ren would use the coffee to replenish some stamina in palaces or Mementos.

Sojiro pushes himself off of the stool and walks deeper into the café to the coffee machine near the TV, a small grin playing itself out across his lips, “As formal as ever, Akechi. Heh, you know you can drop the act. Oh, and I’m only being nice because Ren seemed to really care about you after you were supposedly killed.”

 _Ren…_ Akechi looked down at his lap and felt his body flush with both warmth, shock, and unease. He felt complicated feelings towards the younger boy who he met only because he arrived to Tokyo on probation. He was the first person and only person to push for a friendship, followed by the Phantom Thieves he had hesitantly betrayed.

“What was it you needed from me? If it’s anything too crazy, I’m not helping. I already had enough trouble with the law for one year,” Sojiro asked while grounding the coffee beans.

“Do you have a daughter? A fifteen-year-old named Futaba? Or a pet cat?” Akechi was too tired to beat around the bush.

Sojiro guffawed, “Ha, a daughter? I mean, I’ve jumped woman to woman until Wakaba Isshiki, but we’ve never had a kid,” There was some regret in his voice as he concluded his statement, “And even if we wanted to, well… That’s too late now, for obvious reasons.”

A single glare was all Sojiro gave Akechi, surprising him from the lack of any other punishment, but its not like he wanted to suffer another beating. Akechi simply drooped his posture and glanced jadedly, “…I’m sorry for everything.”

Sojiro shook his head again, pouring the coffee into a canister, “It’s fine. There’s always Ren to act as a son figure of some sort for another two months or so. And no, I’ve never had a cat or a pet for that matter. Maybe after Ren goes back home I’ll get one to keep me company.”

The channel the TV was set on became interrupted by the loud jingle of a news intro. Just as Akechi remembered while waking up on Christmas, the ‘Phantom Thief’ was the only one talked about. The picture of the young officer Akechi recognized as the one who tried to arrest Mishima was on the corner of the screen. Some explanation, commentary, and Phantom Thief praise later, and Sojiro grimaced, turning off the TV.

“…Dammit. Speaking of Phantom Thief, Ren hasn’t been back since he left on Christmas Eve. That same day the entire world changed into some hellish nightmare, too… I closed up shop early and tried to sleep it off, but when I woke up the next morning everything was back to normal. Like some shitty Christmas miracle,” Sojiro, eyes still on the black screen, commentated his experience.

“More like a Christmas curse, if such a concept were to exist,” Akechi scrutinized the news on his phone once again, this time added with the previous week’s while he was comatose, “All the public seems to care about is the Phantom Thief… And amongst those hundreds of changes of hearts within the police force, just how many of those are simple, fair officers who merely dislike the Phantom Thief passively?”

_“In fact, I could have sworn I saw that guy in Shinjuku busting some club host using his clients for sex a few nights ago!”_

Mishima’s words bounced through Akechi’s head. Ren wasn’t just busting shady criminals leading on the public anymore.

It was true that Ren had become Yaldabaoth’s servant; he was eliminating anyone who merely thought against his shadow ruling over the nation. And if his brushes with Sae, Mishima, Shiho, Hifumi, Sugimura, and Sojiro were any proof, it was also true that Ren abandoned his friends and erased the public’s cognition of them to claim praise as one Phantom Thief.

But why?

Akechi’s lip began to tremble. _Why would Ren do something so uncharacteristically inhumane?_

He had to find out these answers for himself. It would seem, in a sense, that Akechi’s occupation as a detective would continue. He payed off and thanked Sojiro for the coffee, making his way back to Sae’s apartment before the trains shut down to rest. Tomorrow he wouldn’t stall traversing the depths of Mementos any longer. He was determined to free and return the Phantom Thieves—Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru—back to public cognition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter's about just as long, but Akechi goes off to the Metaverse finally and, with the help of Lavenza, is able to reach the area serving as holding cells for the forgotten Thieves. A good bit of the chapter is much needed interaction between each Thief.
> 
> sorry if the chapter summary/notes seem vague or rushed, I nearly forgot to post this and I have to drive somewhere soon. hope you enjoyed the chapter, though, which is the main focus and luckily NOT rushed ^^


	4. Hostile Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unnerved by experiencing society forgetting the Phantom Thieves as individuals, Akechi finally decides to go off to the Metaverse to break the group free from their imprisonment.

Some time during the night, Akechi fled Sae’s apartment again. He wasn’t at all tired, having had a whole week of rest, and his desperation to figure out where the Phantom Thieves who were forgotten in reality and imprisoned in the depths were certainly didn’t help him relax. Having been a detective, though fraudulent, slumber or any dawdling around would be impossible until he uncovered the truth.

There stood Akechi, alone, and once again at Mementos’ entrance. The scenery was as eerie and red as reality had once been when it was shortly fused with reality. However, in the corner of his eye he spotted a calm hue of blue. A voice was what brought him over.

“To think the roles have been reversed…” A soft, enigmatic voice with a distant innocence in its tone was what caused Akechi’s head to turn. It was Lavenza, standing besides a glowing blue door. The young attendant looked up and smiled faintly, “Never mind. You should only worry about finding the rest of the past Trickster’s group. I’ll help you avoid as many enemies as you can until then.”

Akechi shook his head, extravagantly pulling off his mask to summon Loki and laughing, “Nonsense, I should get through them in a bree—”

“Fool!” Lavenza snapped, “Isn’t this what almost killed you in the first place? Turning your back from any aid willing to help you in a time of need?! Please, the only way you can make this work is if you have faith in others again…”

Faith, trust in others, any other sense of the word came rarely to Akechi. He had been used, toyed with, and manipulated nearly all his life, and it was the trust he placed in Shido for him to return to his life as a family member that led him down this path.

But… Lavenza was only a little girl, and didn’t seem to have ill intent even if capable. Akechi nodded begrudgingly, “…Fine. I’ll be starting off slow, though,” he withdrew his Persona, “Go ahead.”

Lavenza took out the over-sized grimoire resting underneath her arm, thrusting the book open and thumbing through all of the pages. Both hers and Akechi’s bodies fluoresced with a hue of cerulean, disappearing from the entrance.

When Akechi’s senses came back to him, he found himself inside of the Velvet Room, and much taller.

“…Oops!” Lavenza looked up at Akechi with shock, a dainty hand covering her mouth that went agape, “I guess I erred the coordinates… Sorry!”

It was an abnormally playful reaction, but before Akechi could analyze what she was talking about, he fell to the ground, followed by a loud thump.

Igor gave an abrupt laugh, “Now, my dear, don’t mess with the chosen one like that.”

“Damn right… _Ow_!” Akechi scowled, bringing himself to his feet and stretching, “…Why am I back in this place? I swear to God if I agreed to put my faith in you only to be knocked out—”

“No, nothing like that,” the little girl dismissed his theory in an intervention, “The previous time you were here, only your spirit entered the Velvet Room. Likewise, that door when we were in the entrance to Mementos also would have pulled only your spirit in. I’m sure you recall the former Trickster staring off into seemingly nothing before palace or Mementos infiltrations, correct?”

Akechi remembered his conversation with Joker regarding how he would always get new Personas, as well as his teammates lightly poking fun at the weird behavior.

 _That’s right, haha… Skull—no, Ryuji stole one of Yusuke’s paintbrushes from the Mona bus the second time we entered Sae’s palace and drew on Ren’s face that one time while he was spiritually in the Velvet Room._ The thought prompted a light teeter at such juvenile behavior, answering Lavenza’s query with a nod and a smile.

“Right now, however, you are both spiritually and physically in the Velvet Room situated deep within the depths. Outside of what used to be your cell will lead you into a set of hallways, where each member is incarcerated in their own isolated cell…” Lavenza looked forward at the key she had given him still in the pocket of his attire, “If you’re thinking of using the key, it won’t work. There are no keys to the cells, else I would happily free them… They’ve lost their will, and it’s up to you to replenish their rebellious resolve once again.”

Igor hummed to himself before speaking, “Gather all of them here, and I’ll hold up my end of the bargain and explain what should be done next.”

Akechi bit his lip, averting his vision to the ground, “Y-Yeah… I’ll do that…”

He turned his back to the two Velvet Room denizens and left the room with a doleful face. As he began to traverse, he felt his hands even beneath his gloves go cold. _I’m the only one who can free them? What if they hate me? Am I really seeing them again after all of this…?_ His questions turned into dark statements. _I should be dead. I don’t deserve any of this. Maybe their “rebellious resolve” can be fueled by the desire to give me the justice I deserve._

He wanted to stop, but his feet kept stepping forward. Deep down, he knew they wouldn’t accept him so easily, and that he would just have to redeem himself. Akechi’s justice wouldn’t let him back out while the rest of the world suffers, losing their ability to think on their own behalves and failing as a society.

It was difficult for him to locate the cells with so much weighing down on his mind, but he eventually caught sight of one at the left-end back hallway. A foreign, blonde hair blue-eyed beauty with her hair in its traditional twin tails sitting down sideways behind the bars, staring off absently at the wall.

 _Ann._ Akechi remembered his conversation with Shiho, and how it seemed like for a minute she remembered the name. With that as a potential mean for motivation, he also remembered her being one of the least hostile towards him. Perhaps it was best he stumbled upon her cell first out of the rest of the Thieves.

He swallowed down his nerves and marched over to her cell, giving the bars a light knock.

“Huh…?” Ann’s eyes were jaded—Lavenza wasn’t exaggerating when she stated that they lost all will—but they quickly rounded enough to where nearly all of the white could be spotted. Ann jumped to her feet, pointing a shaky finger at the older boy, “Y-You…! How are you still alive? W-We thought you were dead… Shot twice! I—”

Akechi’s stomach twisted, “E-Erm… Yeah, I didn’t fall back there, but I was too full of guilt to just live life as normal. I went into hiding, partially so Shido wouldn’t send reinforcements to come catch me.”

Ann froze, her posture still rigid with mystified shock before sighing and returning to the dejected face she had etched on before. She emitted a tired laugh, “Haha… So this isn’t the afterlife after all, then… That means not just the Phantom Thieves as a name, but its members actually are totally erased in public cognition…” she pressed her back against the wall, hopelessly sliding back down to the position she was in before, “I really am weak. I mean, all of my will is just _gone_ now that I no longer have a name. We were supposed to be doing this for society, but now it’s clear that I was just doing this for name… Ha, now that you think about it, you could probably add selfish to that list too.”

Akechi’s pulse quickened. He had never seen the optimistic, cheerful model so cynical during his time working alongside her. But in a way, he understood entirely what she was thinking, “That’s just part of being human, Ann. Just because a little bit of your own self-gain from something finds its part in your motivation doesn’t make you a selfish person. It _became_ a reason to your motivation behind being in the Phantom Thieves, not ‘because’.”

“But look at where that tiny little reason got me… Tch, you were right in the end, Akechi. Maybe we should’ve just stood out of your way. This is what the people want, after all. Everyone’s forgotten us,” Ann shook her head and looked away from boy.

“…What about Suzui-san?”

A sudden shock struck Ann’s core, her head whipping back up at Akechi, “Shiho…?! I… yeah, she’s one of the reasons I stuck with the Phantom Thieves, but no doubt she’s forgotten me as well.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Akechi began to conjecture, cuffing an index finger over his chin, “I decided to talk to each person I knew was close to a member of the Phantom Thieves after discovering that Makoto’s older sister had forgotten her. Yeah, you can probably guess that it got me nowhere… But for a split second when I said your name to her at the mall, Ann… It’s like she had an epiphany. She looked regretful, for that split second, as if she had neglected something dear to her.”

Ann’s eyes began to well, a few tears breaking her tear ducts before escaping in an unstoppable torrent, “Shiho… remembered me…?!”

Akechi continued, “Yes. Only for a split second, but I’m convinced that everyone’s memories will start back where they left off once you return… That is, if you follow me out of here…”

“Shiho…” Ann’s voice trembled, her sobbing beginning to come to a halt. She stood up from her anguish and wiped away the leftover tears, “That’s right… Nobody knows me as a part of the Phantom Thieves anyway, but I still continued with everyone from the very bottom of my heart. Dammit, if I just sat on my hands and went along with everyone else, Shiho would still be… No, Shiho, Mishima, the entire volleyball team would be under Kamoshida’s abuse!”

The blue flame similar to his awakening to Loki shrouded Ann, her clothes transforming into the iconic Panther outfit. The bars of her confinement shone a blue hue before shattering, Ann turning to Akechi with a wide, hopeful smile, “Akechi… I have no idea what’s going on here, honestly… But you’ve changed. For that, I’ll help you try and convince the others locked in this filthy hellhole to find their incentive again.”

Akechi’s pupils began to dilate. _This feeling… It’s the same I felt when Ann’s friend thanked me, except… stronger._

“Well, what are you waiting around for? You aren’t thinking of leaving me here, are you? I can help, too!” Ann shot Akechi a smirk, “Besides… I don’t think the others would be quite as welcoming. We should try getting Yusuke next. I think he’s somewhere in the next hall in front of me.”

“Ann, I— _Woah_!” Akechi tried to speak, but Ann grabbed his hand and took off with him trailing behind. It took awhile before Akechi followed with his own strength.

Ann led the boy into the next hall over and into the same side he had went in the last to find her. Surely enough, they spotted another blue-doored cell. A tall, lanky boy with deep blue hair which draped over one of his steel eyes stood with his back pressed up to the wall. He looked slightly less exhausted than Ann, but still only proved that each Thief had indeed lost their will.

“Hey, Yusuke!” Ann chirped, disrupting the beyond gloomy mood.

“Hm…? Is that your voice, Ann?” Yusuke languidly looked over to Ann, his heart stopping when he recognized the taller figure behind her, “I see you’re… A-Akechi?! What on earth is he doing here, and how is he alive?”

Ann spoke on the nervous Akechi’s behalf, “He escaped Shido’s palace! I was surprised too, but that powerful Persona he fought us with was probably able to take down those shadows with no problem. Oh, and don’t you worry about any sort of fights, he’s changed a lot. After all, if it wasn’t for him, I would’ve stayed in that drabby cell forever, but now we can get back to work! On that note, come with us!”

Yusuke chuckled, shaking his head and looking away from both Thieves, “Well, it seems you’re back in your spirits… but I’m afraid I cannot keep fighting. You saw those people back in the depths, didn’t you? Each and every one of the inmates seemed to bizarrely enough enjoy the confines of the prison sculpted from their own supposed desire to be controlled. I thought it ridiculous, that they were blind to another power using such weakness to enslave them…”

“Yusuke…” Ann’s tone was gentle.

“But hearing those bloodcurdling cries as we were attacking their treasure made me wonder… Are we truly doing the right thing? Is our idea of justice being independency biased, and by that logic are we disturbing the true aesthetics of society that we simply refused to acknowledge?”

“No,” Akechi brushed past Ann and faced Yusuke, the bars the only obstacle separating the two, “There is another power above all of this… I met him. Yaldabaoth, a false god of control that watches above in amusement as society destroys itself with how dependent and mindless they’ve become. If society truly wished that badly to be controlled… and by someone like my father—no, Masayoshi Shido… Let it be a mistake on their own accord, a mistake by their own independent choice, dammit! Surely as an artist, blindness should be one of the things you oppose when crafting your works.”

Yusuke narrowed his eyes, “Yeah.” Both Ann and Akechi could tell Yusuke was disgusted with himself at his defeat. “Even if they are pained upon it, I will force and see through the boundaries this ‘Yaldabaoth’ has purposely shackled on society destroyed with my own two eyes…”

Blue flames burned away Yusuke’s casual attire, quickly taking the form of the clothes he usually adorned in the Metaverse. Fox had returned, as well as the tiny spark of motivation which fueled into an even bigger resolve.

The bars began to glow just as Ann’s had. To speed up the process, Yusuke withdrew his katana and slashed cleanly through the bars which broke into pieces on impact.

“I will paint over the chaos this beautiful world has succumbed to!”

Usually Ann would tease Yusuke over something so dramatic, but a line like that fit with the entire situation and reality that they’d soon be opposing the wrath of a god himself. Instead, Ann cheered the artist on.

“Yeah, you go!” Ann threw a fist in the air and giggled, “O-Oh yeah, and you should come along with us. Y’know, to help ease tension had Akechi were to go alone instead. You know which one of us is in the cell above?”

Yusuke sheathed his oriental blade, “Originally I had suspected it was you, but if you’re here… I think it was Makoto.”

“Perfect! Let’s go,” Ann gestured the two boys to continue advancing.

A blue-doored cell in the next hall over was right around placed like Yusuke’s was on the side. Akechi immediately recognized the chin-length hair and scarlet eyes of the younger Niijima sister, calling out to her instinctively, uncaring of any potential hostility.

“That’s… Makoto!” Akechi sped ahead, the two second-years behind hesitant to allow Akechi to take lead.

Makoto, who was also standing against the wall, caught earshot of the many echoing steps and familiar voice approaching her. For a second, she didn’t want to believe it, but before Akechi could even see how miserable she looked before, her eyes were already filled with shock upon his status.

Akechi slowed his steps as he neared her cell. “Ah, Makoto… You seem sa—”

“ _Akechi_? Wha—How is he alive?” Makoto’s eyes flickered with uncertainty and belligerence.

Despite only once having to explain the situation, Ann noticeably shortened her explanation, “He survived Shido’s palace with his busted ass Persona, that’s what! Don’t worry about him betraying us a second time, you remember how awful he looked before we got separated… More importantly, you need to come with us. Something bad is happening to the world. Apparently, there _is_ a greater evil, a god named Yaldabaoth… Makoto, please!”

An exhale from her nostrils and a sad smile as she brushed a lock of hair behind her ear was enough to show that she wouldn’t be that easy to convince. She stared straight at Akechi, scrutinizing his presence thoroughly, “…All of you are in your Thief outfits. Even Akechi, the one I swore was wrong, and here I am still in my winter casualwear. Why do you guys want me back? Clearly my ‘rebellious side’ was nothing more than a way for me to vent the stresses of my role as a goody two-shoes honor student. Just leave me behind, I was always destined to just abide by what the public expects of me. There’s no foreseeable positive outcome for me.”

“Makoto, put these thoughts to rest,” Yusuke shook his head all throughout her wavering statements, “Being a Phantom Thief wasn’t just a mean for simple escapism. You clearly wished to rescue the citizens that had been targeted and drained of their income by that bastard Kaneshiro.”

“Kaneshiro was just another palace ruler whose wishes deviated from the general public. Once they figured out he was behind the crimes, he was chastised and arrested,” Makoto bit her lip, “You guys, what if… What if the public condoned these people whose hearts we changed not only because their crimes were revealed, but subconsciously because they also rebelled against the idea of someone else controlling them? Shido even explained it for us. They were considered ‘escaped convicts’ whenever their distorted desires took root. What if _this_ is all supposed to be how society is?”

“Shido?!” Akechi yelled.

Yusuke rested a hand on the frenzied boy’s shoulder, “Only his husk granted a shadow form. You would find no delight exuding your anger on him, so calm down.”

“I-I see…” Akechi recollected himself. He resumed his attention on Makoto, “As for you… I’ve never heard such _garbage_ come from your mouth before. You’re saying we should give up just because there isn’t a clear answer? That’s ridiculous logic from a prosecutor’s sister. If every case was as black and white to have an answer in broad view, the law firm would be considered a joke.”

“…You’re exactly right. I don’t even have anything nasty to reply to that with,” Makoto giggled peacefully. She stepped in front of the bars and gripped around two of them with a fierce mien, “If it wasn’t for the Phantom Thieves, I’d still be a mindless drone abiding by society’s set of rules… Even if the outcome was impossible and I was frowned upon, I’d go against the entire world if it meant doing the right thing. I wish to be apart of that, and I want to force a way to make it happen with my own two hands!”

Blue flame spiraled around Makoto, transforming her winter wear into her Queen attire. Her grip on the bars tightened, even behind her now gloved hands Akechi could notice it shaking intensely. Eventually, the clasp caused the bars to bend open a way for Makoto to escape, shattering as she left her imprisonment.

Ann shot her senior a wink, “Woo, I’m glad we finally got a lady in this party! Where to next? That leaves only Morgana, Ryuji, Futaba, and Haru left.”

Makoto chuckled, “My bad, eheh… I don’t know who all’s around me. I was too caught up in my own lamentation to pay anyone else any mind.”

“No problem. I at least think I know where Haru was,” Ann brushed off Makoto’s forming guilt, and turning around, “She’s over in my cell’s hallway.”

Ann turned around, Yusuke following behind her. Just as Makoto was naturally about to proceed, she felt a hand grip on her shoulder pads. Awkwardly, however, to avoid its spikes.

“Wait a second, Makoto…” Akechi trailed off, mustering his voice, “I really am sorry, I—”

“Yeah, yeah. I forgive you, and I’ve honestly been a mess since you died. Even if it was all for show, your charisma really brightened up our party,” Makoto stopped Akechi before he could formally apologize.

Akechi sighed in relief, “Oh, really? Thank—”

Makoto began to run forward, “Still, it’s going to take awhile before you earn back our trust! Let’s just start of as… acquaintances!”

Akechi was taken aback by her comment, but relaxed and followed behind her. _Makoto, you really did seem happier after loosening up. I’ll earn your trust back, everyone’s. I swear it._

A girl in fancy, brand-named winterwear stood parallel to Ann’s cell in her own with her hands over her face. Akechi nor the group could see her face, but they could tell it was Haru from the fluffy, light-brown hair reaching just past her chin in its curls.

“Heyyy! Haru!” Ann chimed, shouting for the girl.

Haru removed her hands from her face and peered over. A flash of emotions ranging between misery and happiness flushed her face before settling on dread seeing the familiar brown-haired crimson-eyed boy in the outfit of the Black Mask, sans the helmet which only made his appearance even more clear.

Akechi’s heart raced when his eyes met Haru’s tearing pair. Unlike the others, his crimes as the Black Mask directly affected her life. It was no doubt that her shock would quickly subdue into animosity.

“Y-You…!” Haru squeaked, trying her best to seem menacing.

Ann began to explain, “He’s alive because—”

Haru uncharacteristically interrupted the second-year, “Because of that Persona, yeah I figured…”

“Har—Okumura-san,” Akechi tried his best not to further anger the young woman, “I really do regret what I did to your father. I mean that, I was nothing more than a pawn in Shido’s game back then. I’m helping now because I want to, not out of any ulterior motive, so please forgive me.”

Haru shook her head, “I already said before, full forgiveness will never happen. I will never forget what you did.”

An attempt at defending himself failed as Akechi’s face grew sullen with remorse. His voice cracked, “I know, and that’s perfectly understandable given all I’ve done…”

“But…” Haru’s anger quickly turned to the former melancholy the group had seen a flash of, “The father I knew would have died anyway. If my father had lived to see his heart changed, he would just be reduced to someone with no personality, substance, or character. He would be an empty shell of a human being, and surely his workers would’ve love to take advantage of their boss in a state as empty as that…”

Akechi reluctantly glanced up and saw the change in Haru’s face that accompanied the tone.

Haru averted her eyes and looked across the room at the others standing before her cell with desperation in her face, “Were we truly doing the right thing…? We mentally killed those palace rulers. Is that no better—no, is that not _worse_ than killing them in their prime?”

Akechi clenched his teeth and mediated the girl, “No. No! What I did was awful. I knew what I was doing, you guys didn’t. It truly is a grey area when it comes to what changing a heart does, whether its ethical or not, but right now it doesn’t matter. It’s black and white now; society is at stake, and its up to the ones who know the truth to prevail. Once we rid of the Metaverse, palace formations, changes of hearts, mental shutdowns, and psychotic breakdowns will all be ridden as well.”

“I see…” Haru sniffled, “To think I’d be finding comfort in the person who instigated these thoughts in the first place…”

“I’ll apologize as much as I need to, but not in words,” Akechi nodded boldly, “I want to make amends through my actions. Such is why I’m freeing all of you this instant.”

Haru looked up proudly, smiling through her tears and reddened eyes, “Then let me make that easier… The Metaverse was what amplified my father’s distorted desires to the point of no return, correct? Then… Then I’ll gladly destroy it with Astarte and my axe in hand! I feel as though that’s the only appropriate way to avenge him.”

The blue flames that were all too familiar now coiled Haru’s figure, completely concealing her. When they dispersed, Haru was now clad as Noir. She swung the axe by her side high and cut right through the bars holding her back from her objective.

“I’m tired of being an obedient, boring damsel! Let’s go find the others,” The rich heiress grinned cutely as she made her way to the others, though the axe in her hand broke the illusion that she was just another peppy girl.

With both back hallways cleared, that left the group of five only the first to deal with. On the right side of the hallway, they spotted a petite, bespectacled girl crouched on the side against the wall with long, orange hair cascading to her feet.

“Futaba!” Ann cupped her hands on the sides of her mouth and yelled out to the youngest member of the team.

Makoto frantically waved around her arms, “Futaba!”

Haru joined in, “Futaba-chan!”

The group ran over and surrounded her cell, naturally evoking her to look their way. “Oh, hey Ann, Inari, Makoto, Akechi, and Haru…” she greeted absently.

“U-Uhm—” Haru softly spoke.

Ann reached her hand out and grinned mischievously, “Nah, nah, wait for it…”

“Ann… Inari… Makoto… A-Ah!” Futaba screamed, jumping to her feet and backing up deeper into the cell. Her shaky finger was pointed straight at Akechi, “A-A-A-Akechi…! How is this happening…?! Am I dead? Is this a glitch in our system… No!” her purplish brown eyes rounded, “Are you all zombies?! Is this the apocalypse?!”

“No, let me explain,” Yusuke cleared his throat, “Back after we fought him in Shido’s palace when he used Loki’s Call of Chaos ability—”

Futaba yawned, standing back up and interrupting Yusuke, “Yeah, yeah, I heard this like three times already! Akechi shot the button to separate us from him, his cognitive self, and the shadows and escaped his death, though purposely keeping that fact a secret.”

Makoto’s eyes bugged, “Futaba… But you affirmed that he was dead after we heard those two gunshots fire.”

Futaba wagged her finger and grinned, “Nuh-uh! I said his signal was getting weak! You underestimate my busted Prometheus! It also helped me listen around this area for any commotion, though faintly… It was probably so faint because I had lost my will, but hearing everyone else regain it has motivated me…”

“Hm…?” Yusuke cocked his head, “How would hearing others’ determination be a catalyst to finding your own?”

Futaba scoffed, “Stupid, stupid Inari! It was you guys in the first place who got me wrapped up in all this Metaverse stuff to begin with! You guys… _saved_ me from being a gross shut-in for the rest of my days. You showed me the world and how beautiful the outdoors was… Sure, it looked like no video game world, but actually experiencing it firsthand was what made it so charming, and its all thanks to you guys!”

A blue flame sparked, this time covering Futaba in a pixelated, technological effect. It wrapped and tightened itself around Futaba’s attire, slowly revealing her outfit as Oracle as the flames disintegrated into smoke. The bars of her cell shattered just as the rest had.

Futaba took a second to observe the change in her wardrobe before looking up at the others through her goggles and continuing, “It sounds cheesy, but its true…! You guys were my motivation, and I want to free everyone else in this world just as you all did for me! Even you, Inari. Ugh…! But don’t make me say things like that again, seriously!”

“And…” Akechi gulped, “I’m sorry about what I did to Isshiki-san.”

“Bleh, just another stage I had to overcome in my game of life…!” Futaba simulated a grin before settling for a more fitting expression, given what Akechi put her through, “But seriously, it really was awful. Don’t expect me to be all buddy-buddy with you so quickly. I’m doin’ this for _me_!”

“Understandable enough,” Akechi negotiated, turning towards Ann as she seemed to know the place the best.

Ann spoke before Akechi even had the chance to, “Well, that only leaves one cell left anyway… Could Morgana and Ryuji both be in the same cell?”

“That would be quite ironic,” Yusuke commented.

Makoto added, “And totally problematic!”

“Nope, not the case, though it’d be hilarious… I’m only getting one reading from that area,” Futaba adjusted her goggles.

“Regardless, we should advance anyway. Whoever’s leftover we’ll just have to find last. Let’s go, everyone!” Haru took the lead.

Everyone ran across the hall, a boy with spiky blond hair and brown eyes standing directly in front of the cell as if he was expecting them. When Akechi was getting closer, he could tell there was no shock in the boy’s expression. He had overheard that Akechi was alive, and malice etched its way on his face.

“Ryuji! W-Wait… huh?” Ann also noticed from behind Akechi.

What struck the group the most was that he was already dressed as Skull, and the bars to his cell had already been destroyed by his apparent will.

Ryuji crossed his arms, “Don’t give me that shit! Are you guys for real? Teaming up and forgiving Akechi so easily? Don’t think I didn’t hear for a second what was goin’ on!”

“Ryuji, this situation requires all of us to be as levelheaded as possible. Please, if you could just be civi—”

“Oh, can it, Inari!” Ryuji boomed at the taller boy. He then turned to face Haru and Futaba, his face twisting with angered confusion, “A-And you two, especially! How can you just up and forgive this fraud like that? He killed your dad, Haru, and your mother Futaba! Hell, basically the whole reason you even had a palace was because this guy scarred you and ruined your life!”

The two didn’t have anything to say, struggling to find responses before forestalling their gazes in defeat.

Makoto pushed her way to the foreground of Ryuji’s view with a troubled look, “Any help should be taken in the position we’re in right now. Besides, Akechi is more powerful than the rest of us combined. He’ll be useful, and that goes beyond the idea of whether or not he’s forgiven. He clearly has no intention of betraying us a second time, a-at least… as far as I’m aware.

“Oh, ‘as far as I’m aware’ is really assuring when it comes to the dude responsible for those mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdown cases who betrayed us once when we allowed him in!” Ryuji sardonically responded before pouting, “Forget it. You all can work without me. I’m waiting until Ren comes along before leaving this shitty cell.”

“Ren!” Ann’s eyes widened, “Oh my God, I totally forgot,” she turned to face Akechi, “Akechi, do you know where Ren is? You’re the one who’s been free the longest… Akechi…?”

Akechi felt his heart begin to ache, a sudden dizziness overcoming him. The others crowded around, save for Ryuji, though all of them look concerned.

“Akechi, are you quite alright?” Yusuke was the one to bring the question up again.

Akechi’s hands balled into stiffened fists, “Ren… has abandoned you all.”

“Huh?!” the entire group asked in unison with equally horrified faces.

“…T-This isn’t true…” Yusuke stated, though sounding more as if he was trying to convince himself of such. He snapped, “Enough, Akechi! Is this not just another brick in your house of lies?!”

Futaba mustered a snort, “M-More like a mansion! Haha…!”

Makoto crossed her arms, brows knitting into fine, dark downward lines, “…It’d probably be best you elaborate.”

 _Goes to show how easy they are to turn on me…_ Akechi thought darkly. He pushed away the forming thoughts of self-deprecation in his head. _No, it’s up to me to earn their trust back, a feat that will take more than a few simple exchanges._

Ryuji bit his lip, “D-Dammit, Akechi!”

Akechi looked back up, focusing mostly at Ryuji, “After we depart the Metaverse, you’ll notice that the fused state of Shibuya with the Metaverse is gone, as well as wherever it reached in the rest of the nation. Things are already ‘back to normal’ in a sense… Save for the ‘Phantom Thief’. Ren has left you all here purposefully to claim all of the credit and is somewhere in Mementos stealing the hearts of any who don’t praise him.”

“B-Bullshit!” Ryuji spat, reminding Akechi of how he lashed out against Lavenza when she delivered the harsh news of his betrayal as well.

But it had to hit the Phantom Thieves—his friends—even more so.

“But… Why would he go through the trouble to lie about something that would be so easy to spot?” Ann bit her quivering lip harsh enough to draw blood from her frustration.

“Please,” Akechi lowered his voice to a tender half-whisper, “Follow me. I must take you a place called the Velvet Room just a little bit up ahead. Its denizens should affirm the certainty of the message I deliver, as heart wrenching as it is.”

Haru responded without looking up, “‘Velvet Room’?”

Ryuji shook his head, “He’s just pullin’ shit out of his ass probably to try and lure us into our deaths…!”

Futaba quashed Ryuji’s theory reluctantly, “No… I sense a strong presence in a circular area right past this hallway. It doesn’t seem hostile, though.”

“Come,” Akechi turned his back and began departing.

The others had no choice but to follow, but Ryuji stood paralyzed in the cell with dread.

Ann, the last one to follow, looked back at her childhood friend. Even though she chose to humor Akechi’s order, her eyes too filled with heartbreak.

“L-Let’s go, Ryuji. Nothing good to do wallowing in a cell,” Ann tried to tease, but her voice was unsteady.

“…and that’s all that happened leading up to your arrival here,” Lavenza closed her grimoire, “The Trickster, for some unknown reason, has given in to Yaldabaoth’s persuasion.”

Even with the existence of the Velvet Room and truth laid out by someone seemingly incapable of even telling a white lie, the group refused to just accept the reality of their friend’s treachery.

By her conclusion, the group were fighting back their tears. Even Ryuji, though he was probably the most heartbroken by the news as Ren was his first friend since he let the track team down.

“No way… This can’t be happening, t-this has to be some sorta sick dream!” Ryuji rose his voice.

“I’m afraid this fact is certified,” Lavenza closed her eyes and lamented, “The false god of control himself told Akechi.”

“H-Hey…” Haru wanted to change the subject, though knew it would just boomerang back to the current, “Where’s Morgana?”

“Right here,” a rough, high-pitched voice replied in an undertone, leaping from one of the open cells around the room.

Igor spoke an explanation on his teary-eyed assistant’s behalf, “Morgana was created by me as an eleventh-hour attempt to guide the chosen one when Yaldabaoth seized control upon his own fusion of the Velvet Room and Mementos… That’s why this place resides in its depths.”

“The depths…?!” Ryuji jumped back, “S-So if we’re somewhere in the depths, we can eliminate the Holy Grail and bring Ren back to his senses… T-That is, if this all is even true!”

“We tried that already, and even if society truly is back to its normal form, that just means that they will still subconsciously protect their treasure keeping them on these chains,” Yusuke dismissed Ryuji’s plan.

“And Ren isn’t just some follower of the Holy Grail now, either. Whether the Grail stays or is destroyed has no bearing on him, he chose to protect it on his own accord for whatever reason,” Morgana added dolefully.

Ryuji’s face contorted with aggravation, looking at Igor, “Hey, old guy, Ren’s in Mementos changing all these hearts,” he slammed his fist against his palm, “All we gotta do is kick his ass and guilt trip him into helping us defeat that thing, then. Right?”

Igor remained silent.

Lavenza looked over at Ryuji and answered instead, “…My master did mention that being the primary objective, but thinking back on it, it’s not guaranteed how safe it would be to just ambush him. His power is significantly stronger, at least more trained than Akechi’s, and who knows what sort of wicked blessings Yaldabaoth bestowed for his ‘servant’.”

“Then let’s stop conversing. Right now, our primary objective is simply locating Ren, “Yusuke looked down at Futaba who was playing with her goggles out of nervous habit, “…Futaba, you can find him with your Persona, right?”

“Not so fast,” Lavenza shook her head, “Take some time to rest in reality so at least your individual existences have time to ferment again. It must be rather unsettling and unmotivating to fight for a world you no longer exist in.”

Makoto shuttered at the thought, “She has a point…”

“Alright, fine…” Ryuji cocked his head back and groaned, “Fine, we’ll all go our separate ways and rest outside of the Metaverse, but tomorrow Ren is our only focus, got that?!”

“You’re preaching to the choir, as loud as ever,” Morgana meowed.

Haru rose her hand and chimed a proposition, “Ooh! Tomorrow at noon we should meet at Leblanc before heading off… You know, like old times!”

“Not a bad idea,” Yusuke smiled.

Akechi shook his head, “Woah, hold on a second. That sounds incredibly dangerous, given that’s where Ren lives. How about Sae’s apartment instead since she’s letting me sleep over?”

Makoto’s cheeks dusted with red, “W-What?! Sis is letting _you_ in? Besides, we only have two bedrooms!”

 _Ah, that’s another thing I have to explain._ “I’ve been sleeping on the couch… Don’t worry, I don’t have any weird intents!” he joked.

Ryuji scowled, “Ugh, be careful Makoto. Keep your door locked,” he grumbled.

The Phantom Thieves returned to their regular lives in reality, and thankfully it was just as Akechi said when he assured Ann that their cognitions would start right where they left off when they were imprisoned in cells around the Velvet Room. Now, it was truly as if reality was back to normal. But the one thing, the “Phantom Thief”, was a change that would have to be dealt with in the hectic scene behind the curtain in Mementos.

Tomorrow, they would be facing Ren for the first time as Yaldabaoth’s servant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, Akechi and the Thieves decide to rest for the remainder of the day and meet up at Sae's apartment in the morning. The Thieves retrace the depths of Mementos, Akechi experiencing it for the first time, and eventually take a break by the second and last safe room by the passageway to the Holy Grail. To their surprise, Ren advances them instead and the group have to muster the dignity to fight against their former leader until someone nearly dies.
> 
> // thank you all sooo much for supporting the series so far! sorry I didn't upload yesterday, I was hanging out with some of my friends. next chapter will be up sometime on monday or tuesday


	5. Yaldabaoth's Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves, now along with Akechi, meet up at Sae's apartment immediately the morning after they were freed from the depths and readjusted to society. Eventually pausing in the last safe room after a long, nonstop venture through, they are met with a surprise and are forced to retreat when a certain Thief gets severely injured, though not before Akechi witnesses something alarming about their threat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: I will be busy for a few days starting tomorrow so expect an upload sometime on the 21st

After the Phantom Thieves evacuated from Mementos, they went off their separate ways. The day was still young, but given their weeklong inactivity in the cells of Mementos’ depths, it was rather logical that they would want to reaccustom themselves to society. After all, it was what Akechi chose to do instead of diving headfirst into the depths. Despite splitting up, Akechi and Makoto notably went off together, as the former had nowhere else to stay at.

The walk to Sae’s apartment—or more specifically a train station to get there—was trekked in awkward silence. Halfway there, Akechi stopped in his tracks and sat himself down on a nearby bench. The boy the same grade as Makoto stretched his arms behind his head, staging confidence, “Makoto. We’ve been walking nonstop for quite a while, and me especially. I only just reawakened from a coma yesterday.”

Makoto didn’t stop in her tracks, voice monotonous just as her sister’s was discoursing with him, “I-I’m sorry. This is… awkward for us to walk like this so casually. People might get the wrong idea, you know? You can do whatever you’d like until the trains are about to shut down for the day. I just want to get to my sister as fast as I can.”

Akechi jumped up from his seat and reached his arm out to her, but just as he was about to call out to his ex-coworker’s just as stoic sister, he felt a knot in his throat stop his voice from escaping. She was correct; it _was_ gauche for him to expect her or any of the Phantom Thieves from being around him so casually outside of their new mission.

His phone buzzed. It a message from Hifumi asking him to play against her at the church. He looked up from the text at Makoto, who was way ahead in the distance.

 _I have no idea how shogi even works, but…_ Akechi sighed and turned his back from the adversarial honor student, heading his way to Kanda’s church.

The match lasted hours, partially because Akechi had no idea how the game worked and Hifumi absolutely refused to continue until he had a good grasp of the game’s mechanics. By the end of their match, which the eccentric Kosei student triumphed by a landslide, Akechi was mentally exhausted and headed back to Sae’s apartment. No words were spoken despite how tiny the vicinity was housing the three, and Akechi went to sleep on the couch.

“Gooood morning, Akechi!” Ann’s sprightly—almost strident given the situation—voice rang in Akechi’s head, breaking him from whatever dream he had already forgotten from the night.

Akechi sluggishly murmured under his breath. He attempted to go back to sleep before sensing the cheery girl’s still presence over him. There was no way he could relax enough to drift back asleep with someone nearly right on top of him.

“Ann…?” Akechi huskily answered, still half-asleep. He looked up at the girl, confirming that it wasn’t just a part of some dream, “How did you enter if Makoto’s still asleep?”

His underclassman tilted her head with a puzzled look, “Huh…? It was in our group chat that the key would be under her doormat… Ah!” she quickly covered her mouth.

“Group chat?” _Great. Another bit of proof that their “trust” was not as lucid as they verbally announced back in Mementos. Another thing I’m left out from…_

Ann shied back, “A-Ah… Yeah, we must have forgotten to add you to our new group chat. It has everyone except Ren, for… obvious reasons,” she trailed off sullenly, “Here, I’ll add you to—”

“We’re here! Now, mind telling me where Niijima-san has all the snacks hidden?!” Futaba was next to enter the apartment, with Morgana traveling on her shoulders.

“I would like to know as well,” Yusuke followed behind the remarkably extremely shorter girl, his stomach rumbling to testify his reasoning, “I’m afraid I spent my money on purchasing new art supplies I missed out from the previous week.”

Futaba laughed heartlessly at his situation, “Hahaha! Stupid Inari!”

“I-If you’d like, I could lend you some money,” Haru responded as soon as the girl rebuked him, walking into the apartment with her wallet in hand.

Ann chimed up as she saw all of her friends reunited now outside of their prison in Mementos, yet immediately noticed the absence of one of her closest ones, “Everyone’s here already… but, where’s Ryuji?” she gasped, “W-Wait…! Don’t tell me he decided to go to find Ren back in the depths alone!”

“Relax, Lady Ann,” Morgana yawned, jumping off of Futaba, “I took a little look around the area and bumped into Ryuji on my way to Sojiro’s house and reminded him about the meeting,” he then frowned, “Of course, he had to be a total ass about it. He’s coming, he’s just taking his time.”

Yusuke noted, “Come to think of it, Ryuji didn’t seem very talkative last night in our new group chat.”

“Ryuji…” Haru whispered worriedly in a concerned undertone.

Makoto, though having always been in the room, was last to rejoin the group. She wore her usual lip gloss and mascara, but her choppy hair was somehow even more disheveled as she was in the middle of her typical morning routine. Her tired, glossy eyes brightened when she looked at everyone crowded in the main room, “…Oh! My bad for oversleeping. It’s just that I haven’t slept in a comfortable bed in what feels like ages.”

“No need for apologies. Ryuji is still not here, after all,” Yusuke dismissed her plea for forgiveness.

She shot a glance at Akechi before averting her eyes when they met his, but Akechi could tell she was thinking that he was the reason why Ryuji was still absent.

Just like that, the door swung wide open, Yusuke rushing to stop it before the knob busted a hole in the paper-thin walls of the complex.

Ryuji made his way with a scowl plastered across his face, “Yo.”

“Ryuji! You’re late!” Ann scolded, shaking a finger at the delinquent.

Ryuji plopped himself on a chair by the coffee table, groaning, “Ahh. Don’t care. Let’s get this over with. Futaba?” he called to the girl.

Futaba scoffed, balling her hands into fists and standing on the tips of her feet to hover over the grouchy boy, “Oh, cut it out and quit being such a dick right now! There’s no trace of Ren anywhere, so you have to stick with us and help find him. That’s our only objective today, remember?!”

“The objective itself is linear enough, but… where do we even start? There are sixty-six floors in Mementos disregarding its depths, and each happen to alter each visit,” Yusuke reminded everyone—including Akechi—just how ginormous the public’s collective palace was.

Futaba turned to her senior who had well about a foot on her height, even standing on the tips of her feet for intimidation didn’t seem to lessen the vast difference, “No, no! You got it all backwards, dammit! We’re returning to the depths, and luckily that should be less tedious than the repetitive floors above it.”

Akechi remembered the change of heart from yesterday he witnessed of the young officer who had tried to apprehend Mishima, turning his attention to the prodigious techie, “And, how can you be so certain he’s in the depths? Certainly you out of everyone else here has read up on the news and how this ‘Phantom Thief’ has claimed well over a hundred hearts in less than two weeks. He’s able to execute these changes swiftly and rather quick. Aside the point, but taking that into consideration, wouldn’t it be difficult to track him down even if you learned his whereabouts and decided to track him down instantly?”

This time, the anger Futaba exhibited which was usually played for laughs and shock value seemed somewhat genuine, her eyes cracking with chagrin at the older boy’s incognizance, “…Hmph, are you just forgetting how badass my Persona is?! Wait, never mind. I still had Necronomicon back when you were with us in Niijima-san’s palace.”

“I see, then.”

“You know…” Futaba leaned in, an expression flickering between mischief and an unwillingness to forgive his past actions, “Before you betrayed our group.”

“F-Futaba!” Ann was taken about, rushing to Akechi and bowing frantically, “Sorry, sorry! She didn’t mean to—”

“I did!” Futaba giggled mercilessly, invalidating Ann’s forgiveness on her behalf.

Ryuji slammed his fist against the arm of the chair he was sitting in, “Dammit, Ann, why do you keep vouching for that guy!?”

“Sketchy Akechi!” Futaba blurted out.

“Am not!” Ann ignored Futaba and began to fire back at Ryuji with her own share of insults and ripostes.

 _Jeez, they’re like a married couple… and Futaba’s like their kid too young to understand the nature of why they’re bickering._ Akechi would’ve laughed to himself aloud if not for his existence being the very reason behind their argument. He shrunk back in his seat on the couch.

“Oh, enough already!” Makoto groaned, inserting herself between the two whose verbal argument was about to become physical.

Haru furrowed her brows, raising her voice though lightly, “Y-Yeah! If we don’t stop arguing, Niijima-san’s gonna wake up!”

“Uh, and how isn’t she already? Seven people and, uhh… a cat… thing are in her home shouting at the top of their lungs! In fact, where’s the ‘cure or quit’ notice already?” Ryuji responded with tension still resident on his tongue.

Yusuke interposed, eager to change the subject to try and eliminate Akechi’s obvious uneasiness, “Actually, Niijima-san’s a busy woman. My guess is that she already went off to work, right Makoto? Oh, but it would still be wise if we leave as soon as possible to avoid getting her into trouble.”

“Ugh, what a buzzkill,” Futaba moaned. She turned back to her phone which she had usually kept in hand with its various modifications, finger hovering eagerly over the Meta-Nav application, “Anyways, we good? It’s probably best we enter the Metaverse in here since the only other person we risk bumping into after returning already knows of our dirty lil’ secret.”

“Hold on a minute,” Morgana nudged against Futaba’s boot, looking up at her when she noticed, “You never answered Akechi’s question, because frankly we share the same ignorance on that one; just how are we gonna be able to find Joker that easily?”

Futaba threw her hands in the air and shouted impatiently, “Duh, stupid cat! Prometheus! Its radius is a lot bigger than Necronomicon’s puny signals. Finding Ren’s gonna be a breeze, especially since the Metaverse is the only place he could be since Sojiro hasn’t seen the guy since we all left!”

“Ah, so it was that simple…” Yusuke responded.

“ _Duh_! I’m getting bored already!” Once again, the hyper girl’s finger floated dangerously close to the icon of the Meta-Nav before pressing, “Now, let’s go! I have a fairly good idea where he could be!”

Without any say in the matter, the eight ordinary-looking teenagers and their cat concurrently vanished from the room, reappearing at the entrance to Mementos’ eerie depths in their Thief attires that made them stand out from such ordinariness.

“Well, we’re here!” Futaba chimed in a sing-songy tenor. She summoned Prometheus, which in turn pulled herself inside of it so she could activate her powers as group navigator at its fullest. Her voice through Prometheus echoed, “Oh, and there are enemies in the room ahead now, so let’s stick to our codenames. Oracle, over!”

“Now hang on, you didn’t even let us voice any objection,” Yusuke looked up at the Persona housing their navigator.

Futaba scoffed, “Are there any?”

Nobody said a word.

The girl laughed at the lack of opposition which negated Yusuke’s trepidation, “As I thought! In your face, Inari! Now, _vamoose_!”

“H-Hold on,” Haru stammered, hesitant to cause another halt to their mission, “Without Re—er, Joker around… Who’s going to be our leader?”

Morgana leaned on one side of his tiny body, timidly clasping his paws together behind his back, “W-Well… Naturally such a position would be assumed to the person with the same powers…”

One by one, all eyes began to deviate towards Akechi’s as they caught on. When Ryuji did, he threw down his crowbar in an outrage.

“Uh, _hell no_! I refuse to have this guy lead us!” Ryuji pointed brashly at Morgana, “Hell, I’d take you over him! Go ahead, you always wanted to anyway.”

“…I must ask, Skull, but why are you getting so angry?” Yusuke calmly asked the irascible hothead.

“How are _you guys_ not?!” Ryuji now directed his anger at Yusuke.

“Oh, shut up, you guys are like a bunch of babies!” Futaba no longer found entertainment in ganging up on Akechi as she realized the bigger picture at hand, “Here, how about this? No leader, we just all go as one group and any decisions are carried out under unanimous vote. Happy? Let’s go find Joker and bring him back to his senses!”

“True,” Akechi mustered the courage to back Futaba’s claim, “We’ll get nowhere if we keep bickering like this. I promise to prove my allegiance however I can.”

Despite saying herself that there would be no official leader, Futaba took initiative and headed out in front of the group. The rest voyaged behind, failing to find any reason to stay back in defiance of her decision. Having already tread the depths, the group sans Akechi had a good understanding of the place and were thus only following where Ren’s signal grew hotter. Little save for one-off comments just like their travels in the Mona bus in upper Mementos were spoken, though less because of merely nothing to say. There was a lot that could have been said, but a certain and literal wild card amid their masses indirectly shunned them of any potential discussions. At least, until they entered the second safe room of the area.

“Wooh!” Ryuji threw himself down on the stony, familiar red ground the area was used to, removing his mask to remove the sweat it had captured beneath, “I’m beat… So, where’s our guy, Futaba?”

Futaba exited Prometheus outside the safe room before entering, withdrawing the Persona that had exhausted so much energy from her and collapsed on the floor face-down next to Ryuji with a pant, “He’s… _ahh_ —he’s close, but the only thing up ahead is the treasure.”

“My guess…” Even Akechi was exhausted, though partially because he had never seen the depths unlike the rest of the party, “is that as ‘Yaldabaoth’s servant’, naturally Joker would have to stand guard on the one thing Yaldabaoth thinks is at risk of being taken; this supposed Holy Grail.”

“Oh, thanks Captain Obvious!” Ryuji spat, having regained his strength to bite back again.

Though genuinely wishing to mend his relationship with his junior, Akechi learned to block out Ryuji’s empty insults, continuing his proposition, “I hope all of you realize and can at least agree with me that Joker isn’t an easy opponent. If negotiation fails, we have to fight back, and he seems to be able to store about twelve Personas at a time. There’s eight of us, so there’s a great risk that each of us can be exposed to our own Personas’ weaknesses.”

“…Yeah,” For once, Ryuji didn’t shoot down everything Akechi said, instead agreeing in a low, knowing voice, “Let’s just hope the guy comes to his senses and we don’t gotta get our hands dirty…”

Ann sat on top of the strange, table-like structure at the center of the safe room, her bright eyes almost as cloudy as when Akechi witnessed her with all vigor sapped away. However, Akechi couldn’t just simply motivate her or any of the group to be their normal cheerful selves. After all, one of their closest friends abandoned them without any notice and left them deserted from public memory.

Makoto jumped onto the table and sat herself besides her gloomy friend, rubbing her hand on the back with wistful eyes, “Hey… It’s still our Ren. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m confident he’ll realize the blunder in the deal he made with that false god if he even just so happens to _see_ us stancing against him… right?”

Such confidence would have worked if Makoto hadn’t ended her statement with a question that made it sound like she was trying to convince _herself_ that Ren would return to his senses.

“Regardless of what happens, we’re not backing out now!” Morgana stood on the table behind the two girls and in front of the rest with a passionate look in his cartoony eyes, “Our only goal for today was to see Joker, and I don’t feel like cowering back after we had an entire week to reflect! He’s powerful… but he won’t fight us before at least hearing what we have to say!”

“Mona-chan’s right!” Haru squeaked, enticing the rest to now look at her attentively, “Joker’s right up ahead down the passageway leading down to the treasure! We’re so close, and we’ve already ended up more than halfway past the palace, so why back down now?!”

“She has a point!” Ann stood up with confidence somewhere in her now trembly voice and watering eyes, turning to the others, “Dammit… even if it hurts, I can’t leave without knowing the truth! Why would he betray the ones who grew close to him like that? Why would he claim credit as the ‘Phantom Thief’ if after every battle before he accredited the victory to _us_?! None of this makes sense, so I refuse to leave Mementos today until that much is answered…!”

“Indeed. Ann’s right,” Yusuke cleared his throat, “As an artist, it is my instinct to observe things at every perspective to not just acknowledge but to understand on personal grounds the nature of said concept. Reading Joker between the lines all these months has served as the greatest challenge of this desire of mine, and I wish to know him on all edges!”

Ryuji gave a half-snort, head still resting on his hand, “…You don’t change, do you?” he shook his head and rose to his feet languidly, “Ah, whatever, I’m curious too. Whatever rubs you right, I guess, just so long as it motivates ya to give this your all!”

“Uh…!” suddenly Futaba gasped. At first, the group ignored it, that was until her breaths became loud enough and rapid enough to drown out all other commotion, “Y-Y-You guys…!”

“Futaba-chan…? Futaba-chan!” Haru’s eyes grew wide enough to see the white all around the hazel irises in the center, “What’s wrong?”

She rushed over to the now trembling girl, followed by Yusuke who helped keep her from falling down and fainting.

“What’s wrong…? Get it together!” Yusuke shook the girl lightly only for her to throw herself back and summon Prometheus, allowing herself to be risen inside of its cavity. It was only then that she regained the composure to speak clearly again.

“A-Ah…! Security levels are breaching out of control!” Her voice once again echoed through her Persona.

“ _What_?” Makoto retrieved her brass knuckles from her side and pushed herself off the table, followed by Ann, “But we’re in a safe room! The distortion shouldn’t have influence over this area!”

Akechi had an idea where such abnormality was sourcing from, taking a wild guess despite whatever flak he may garner, “…Could it be _him_?”

Futaba’s rapid pants finally subdued, concluding with a prolonged sigh, “The increasing security level seems to be simultaneous with his signal which now seems to be inching closer… Urgh, this is _bad_! I’m going to go all out and provide buffs to all of your Personas’ strengths, durabilities, and accuracies. _Hyah_!”

Beams of iridescent light encircled each individual Thief, powering them up significantly as well as replenishing their stamina; such a thing only ever typically happened whenever the group was in danger, as it costed much of Futaba’s own resilience, only cementing Akechi’s current idea that Ren had decided to pay _them_ a visit first.

“ _Hey_.”

Such an innocent, simple word shook the eight in the room as the masculine tone nowhere near matched that of Ryuji, Yusuke, Akechi, or even Morgana, yet sounding like one they were _very_ acquainted with.

Akechi was the first to accumulate the courage to look over at whoever thrust open the door separating them from the dangers outside, mostly fueled by his constant curiosity.

His heart sank.

Sharp, dark-grey eyes that were once convivial happened to shoot all of Akechi’s confidence away. Those eyes belonged to a fair-skinned boy with wavy, unkempt dark hair and a dark outfit which clashed the natural color of his milky complexion.

He stanced himself, withdrawing two daggers from the pocket of his tailcoat with his bright red gloves. Perhaps to defend himself against the clearly opposed group, perhaps to intimidate the likes of them. Nobody knew what to expect from him anymore.

“ _Joker_!!” The group collectively shouted for their former leader’s name, but the boy dismissed their callings and focused straight at Akechi.

“ _Goro_ ,” Ren dropped his prior formality towards him which he had previously kept even during his own betrayal, “I never thought you’d turn up alive.”

Akechi’s face grew hot, almost shocked that nobody else was hearing how fast his heart was thumping at the heat of the moment, and thus how it had even skipped a few beats. His positioning, standing before the rest of the group that was once Ren’s who stood by his lonesome against the rest only reminded him of what Lavenza had stated about the switching of their fates.

“Even when our fates are reversed like this…” Akechi finally found his voice and even began to make small steps advancing Ren, hand over the hilt of his sword. He suddenly stopped until he was nearly face-to-face with the slightly taller boy, whose boots helped him stand above. Nevertheless, Akechi wasn’t afraid, glaring straight up at the changed man, continuing his previous statement, “Even when our fates are reversed like this, it seems we still stand on opposite sides.”

To his surprise, Ren chuckled almost genuinely, “Hm. And, who are to you accuse me as being in the wrong? ‘Reversed’ or not, it still seems that you’re just as arrogant as ever…”

“ _A-Akechi, dammit… Don’t say the wrong shit,_ ” Ryuji whispered between his grit teeth so that only he could hear.

Just like Ren, everyone else’s commentary was nothing more than white noise for Akechi at the time. Akechi furrowed his brow in pity for the boy who had fallen from grace, “Say what you will, Ren, but you’re making a fool out of yourself by choosing this and thinking that it _isn’t_ wrong!”

In the blink of an eye, Ren withdrew one of his daggers for his pistol, which was now aimed straight between Akechi’s eyes. Ren mockingly twisted the gun through Akechi’s bangs to have the barrel pressing right into the bare skin above his mask, a twisted smile playing itself across his lips, “So, what is it you said back in the interrogation room? ‘Case closed, this is where _your_ ‘justice’ ends—”

“Grr, quit standing around, man!” Ryuji jumped from his frozen position and threw Akechi down by the collar of his outfit. Ryuji bared his teeth, grabbing Ren by his own outfit’s collar and throwing him on the ground outside of the safe room and in front of the passageway leading to the Holy Grail. The others escaped the room and once again took stances paralleling against Joker’s.

“ _Vishnu_! Garudyne!” Ren shouted, directing his finger towards his former best friend as a Persona emerged from behind him in the shadows.

“W-What the?!”

Yusuke, whose Persona allowed him to block such wind attacks, pushed Ryuji out of the way and summoned the aforementioned Persona to absorb the fatal gust of wind, “Kamu Susano-o!”

Makoto rushed over to Yusuke, Ryuji, and Ren and charged at Ren impulsively, “Joker! Please, just hear us out… you’re not like this!”

Ren scoffed, answering curtly, “How would you know whether or not this is who I am? You’ve never known me. The one you call your friend was nothing more than one role out of many that you happened to like, not the performer himself.”

“W-What are you…?” The honor student froze speechlessly, stammering to find the right words to such a vague response, but it was obvious Ren wasn’t just going to sit on his hands until she proposed one.

“Kohryu,” Ren sprawled his hand out over his face extravagantly, moving the hand into a single point towards Makoto’s frozen figure, “Psycho Force!”

“ _Queen_!!” Everyone shouted for the girl to refocus herself, as they were too far away to absorb or even take the attack for her.

Right as Makoto answered with a single “huh?”, she convulsed as the psychokinetic attack struck her down.

“This is bad!” Futaba announced in the midst of everyone who had begun panicking, “I can’t specifically name out each one, but Ren’s current Personas are all able to strike you guys down!”

Akechi jerked his head up at Prometheus who was quartering Futaba, “What?! But Loki didn’t have any weaknesses last time I used him…”

“Tch, how can you not know your own Persona?!” the stressed navigator spat brusquely. “He only didn’t have any weaknesses because you went ahead and berserk’d yourself, but I wouldn’t recommend that at all right now… You’re supposed to have the same abilities as Joker, dammit, can’t you switch ‘em up?!”

Akechi didn’t respond, as even he didn’t know the answer to that, and now wasn’t the time for talking unless it got them out of this situation in one piece.

Morgana summoned Mercurius, waddling towards his fallen teammate with the intent to heal her with Diaharan.

But Ren had other plans. Utilizing the same Persona, Ren ordered Kohryu to execute another attack, this time towards the entirety of the group, “Maziodyne!”

Each of the Thieves were struck by singular, yet intense bolts of lightning. Luckily, most of the group were able to remaining standing on their feet, save for Morgana who collapsed to his feet in a manner similar to Makoto when her weakness was exposed.

“Dammit!” followed by a loud thud enticed the attention of the others, including Ren, the commotion belonging to the fallen Thief.

Just as Makoto was about to use her Persona’s own recovery spells, Ren casually strolled over to the catlike creature and kicked him away from the girl with ease.

“Mona-chan!” Haru rushed to the Thief that had first introduced her to the Metaverse, and thus the one she felt she owed for his teachings, yelling at Ren, “Ren… please! We’re your friends… Oh, Astarte! Psiodyne!”

Ren tried to run from the attack, tripping over his own feet when he was struck by his current Persona’s weakness.

Ryuji’s eyes bugged out, filled almost with weariness for his friend who collapsed, “Y-Yo, he’s down… Good job Noir, woo!” he whistled, breaking from his reluctancy to hurt his best friend and cheering on the noble lady.

The group swarmed around the now defenseless Ren, Morgana eventually getting up on his own from his daze.

Ren slowly opened his eyes, which he had tightly shut before when Haru caught him off guard struck him down. All of his friends, even Akechi and save for Futaba, who still remained in Prometheus just to stay cautious, peered down at him with equally terrified faces. These were the faces of who used to be his closest friends, who he consciously chose to betray for some reason clearly unknown to them.

“Jo—no, Ren, none of your actions make one bit of sense…” Yusuke bit down his worries to initiate the first move on why they were even in Mementos to begin with, “It’s always interesting to change your aesthetics, but not if its expense is of others.”

“Please return to us!” Haru cried out, feeling guiltiest the most for compromising Ren in this position to begin with, “I’m sorry for striking you down, but it was for your own good!”

Ryuji, who was admittedly now on the brink of tears, spoke in a rather unsteady tone, “Yeah, man… please, this don’t feel right at all and you out of all people should sense that too!”

“Right or wrong, we won’t hold it against you if you just end this deal with that false god _now_ ,” Makoto expanded on Ryuji’s previous statement.

Ann caved in to her emotions and leaned over to touch Ren’s face, “You’ve helped us through too much shit for us to turn you away if that’s what you’re worried abou—”

Immediately Ren slapped her gloved hand away, the silence from the shock finally allowing him room to speak, “You guys don’t understand, do you? And besides, it seems you’ve all already reassumed your roles in public cognition. My deal returned society to its normal state, separate from Mementos, so why must you still impede? There’s no reason to go after the Grail anymore.”

Morgana jumped onto Yusuke’s shoulders, as he was the tallest one on the team, in order to evoke some importance and attendance of his words, “That’s not what we came here for! Fused or not, humanity is still bounded by their chains. They still can’t think for themselves, and they’re still talking about how doomed they are without Shido governing them!”

“…Come to think of it,” Akechi finally grasped his courage to speak, cuffing his finger around his chin out of habit, “the only thing that _has_ changed is the causer of these new changes of hearts…” Now his attention rested on Ren, who always had his eyes on Akechi the entire time, perhaps in deep thought, “The Phantom _Thief_.”

“Still pretending to be an ace detective?” As if Ren was only feigning his injuries, he jumped back and once again stood against the group, narrow eyes never breaking from Akechi’s, “Society doesn’t even care anymore thanks to said chains. I hope you realize that you would most definitely be taken in during the hypothetical situation that you did change the public’s hearts.”

Akechi felt a sudden surge of valor, responding immediately, “And I would gladly be taken in if it was at the hands of policemen competent enough about a practical serial killer roaming around their society!”

The rest of the Thieves’ jaws slackened by Akechi’s genuine nobility. Akechi only further took advantage of their shock by staring down straight at Ryuji with a fierce intensity in his eyes, “…That’s what I intend to do, by the way, Skull. If it helps you cooperate and help me reform society on behalf of this fallen Trickster, I assure you that when this is all over, I will turn myself in.”

Ryuji reared back in shock, the volume of his voice unable to raise above a whisper, “Akechi…”

“Oh Skull, don’t give in to the words of someone like him…” Ren backed up with his hands behind his back, “Shame on him for betraying us once, but a second time would only make you all the fools for giving in to his lies.”

“‘Us’…?” Ryuji whispered, staring down at his shaking feet before jutting his head high with confidence, “N-Nah, man… you’ve changed! The Ren Amamiya from last April was the one I trusted, not this… this _traitor_ who betrayed mankind the second their fates were in your hands! Seiten Taisei, God’s Hand!”

“Zaou-Gongen!” Ren backflipped as Ryuji’s Persona was about to attack him with its own hands, avoiding the second attack directed at him thanks to the new Persona. After Ryuji’s Persona missed, Ren called to his new one with ease, “Zaou-Gongen, Ominous Words!”

The spell Ren called out was less of an attack. It was an ailment, and a fatal one which had the ability to drag its target into despair, killing them automatically after mere minutes.

Ryuji lost all will to fight as the ailment took over his mind, allowing Ren to mindlessly beat on him with his current Persona.

“Skull! At this rate, he’s going to die… Everyone, get ready for buffs and health and stamina repletion! This’s one’s gonna be a big one!” Futaba’s voice ranged through the area to her distressed teammates on the battlefield below. Prometheus began to shine with a blinding, iridescent light.

Ren was also affected, though only by the cons of not being able to attack during Futaba charging the group due to his temporarily impaired vision. Once his eyes readjusted, the opponents in front of him were fully recovered and even stronger than before.

“How does that feel, Joker?!” Futaba taunted the lone Thief with pride, “No matter how many times you knock these guys down, me and my OP navigator powers will keep bringin’ back to fight until you come to your senses.”

The usually quiet boy stifled a calm chuckle from behind his hand, raising it up at the navigator, “Then I just have to cut the power at its source to prevent that.”

“Wha—” Futaba’s voice dissolved into a shriek as Prometheus began to shake vigorously enough to the point of having to eject from her own Persona, falling to the ground. None of their enemies had never even thought to strike the navigator supplying such strength and rejuvenation to the Thieves, but Ren was cannier than those tedious shadows they all faced together as a group.

“No way… What the hell, man?!” Ryuji cursed Ren out, Futaba diverting his attention from him, “Futaba, you alright?”

Yusuke was the one to come to Futaba’s aid first, lobbing the overwhelmed girl’s body over his shoulders and breaking into a run.

“Inferno!” Ren ordered his current Persona, shrouding Yusuke and Futaba in a ring of fire.

Yusuke impetuously threw the frail girl down and took the attack by himself at its full strength, forgetting that fire was his weakness right as he had succumbed to its scorching sting.

“Fox! Get it together, get out of there, quickly!” Morgana shouted above the others’.

Futaba rolled forward facing Yusuke who was covered by the blinding ember of Ren’s attack, adjusting her goggles frantically. She tried to return to Prometheus whose shaking subsided, yet lacked the energy to use it any further. Her voice cracked, the sound of her heart’s beating drowning out her own voice’s, “Oh no…! Inari… _Yusuke_! His signal’s weakening…” she began to pant, her vision blurring from either the heat or her shock, “ _Someone_!”

Akechi grit his teeth. Even if he still had a long way ahead in redeeming himself to the group, it horrified him how disposable Ren was treating his friend. He tore the mask from his face and rose it high, “ _Loki_! Makarakarn!”

For the first time since fight in Shido’s palace, Akechi rose his mask high in the air and summoned his true Persona, who in turn abided by his order and erected a magic barrier around the boy.

“Akechi…? What are you planning?” Makoto asked, powerless as the rest on what to do to save Yusuke.

Akechi, still staring at the flame surrounding the artist, gave a simple answer, “You’ll see soon enough. Heal me immediately after, understood?” Without waiting for a response, Akechi rushed headfirst into the flames.

“Wha—Akechi, you idiot!” Ryuji ran after him to try and pull him back, but stood still when he met the walls of the fire.

Akechi rolled out from the other side of the fire where there was a gap with an unconscious Yusuke in hands, both of their clothes charred and recoiling from burns.

“A-Anat! Mediaharan!” Makoto stammered before realizing what was asked of her, summoning her own Persona to heal the two back.

“Mabasudi!” Morgana followed the girl and cured the two from their burns.

Akechi was fine, surviving the brash dive into the ember only thanks to the barrier he had erected for himself prior. Yusuke, however, was out cold. The group crowded around the two behind the still burning fire.

Futaba’s head hung low. Though her goggles obscured most of her face, her lips were quivering along with the sounds of the words she forced out, “His signal’s…”

Ryuji’s face was horrified, slowly backing away from the scene and staring over the flames up ahead. Ren was still standing there, though his face almost seemed to have a hint of regret. Ryuji didn’t care anymore, cursing out the shell of his old friend who had nearly killed Yusuke, “You…! Is this really who you are?! I ain’t gonna hold back any longer now,” Ryuji cracked his knuckles and stepped forward past the flame, “Come on, you’ll hafta get past the rest of us!”

Ann took Yusuke’s body and stood it up with her arm under his shoulders, turning away from the scene, “Ryuji… Dammit, we can deal with him some other time! We can’t afford to waste time when Yusuke could possibly…!”

 _Dead_. Akechi had a feeling the boy wouldn’t go down so easily, but Ann was indeed right that he could very well perish had they assumed that time could be spared. The rest of the group began to turn their backs, Ryuji slamming his crowbar against the ground in fury when his body stopped him from fighting Ren. Now Akechi and Ren were the only ones in proximity, the fire being the only thing between them.

“Akechi!” He heard Ann’s voice shout for him once again, prompting him to get up off the ground and retreat with the rest.

However, just as Akechi went to regroup with the rest of the party, he heard an anguished howl from Ren’s direction. It could have only belonged to him, as there were no more shadows in the area possibly due to being frightened away by his strength.

Akechi jerked his head back, wheeling completely around when he noticed Ren fall to his knees and clutch his head in pain. “R-Ren… pull it together!” He cried out, only for it to go unheard as Ren was too lost in his own pain to notice anything else.

The blue flames he had admittedly begun to get tired of surrounded Ren, though with a new twist for its context. Ren began to flail around, hands still clasped on both sides of his head, moaning in immense pain around the barrier of flame.

What looked to be Arsene hovered above the boy, staring down at him menacingly. No words were exchanged, though if they were, Akechi didn’t have the ability to listen in. Arsene flew up higher before disappearing, followed by Kohryu, Zaou-Gongen, and the rest of the Personas Ren didn’t evoke during his fight against the Thieves. After what looked to be the twelfth and last one, the blue flames compacted around Ren’s figure before burning away his mask and the rest of his Thief attire. By the time Ren stopped writhing in pain, the only trace of the scene was the smoke dispersed after the flames gave out.

No longer did ghastly blue light shroud the almighty Wild Card user Joker. The boy knocked out cold was Ren Amamiya, an average, ordinary second-year transfer student. Ren lied torpid on the violent grounds of Mementos in his average Shujin uniform.

_No way… Should I pull him out with us?_

Before Akechi could follow through with his decision, Ann’s voice chimed again from the distance, preventing him to embark any further. Akechi, stunned by what he had witnessed, didn’t object due to Yusuke’s life they had on the line and reluctantly left Ren in the depths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, Akechi rejoins the Thieves in reality and immediately rush him to the clinic in Yogen-Jaya. It's here that they all discuss Ren and Akechi brings up his discovery that Ren has lost his Personas. Futaba pieces things together and comes up with the theory that he now has a palace, and unfortunately? She's right.
> 
> // aaa thank you all so much for the support! I know i say this all the time when i respond to almost each and every comment, but it really does help me get the drive to write a fanfiction as multi-chaptered and (somewhat) long as this one! ALSO one more thing, next upload will be on the 21st!


	6. Theatre of Acedia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves have successfully escaped the depths with Yusuke's life spared thanks to Takemi's willingness to aid them. While talking, Akechi discusses what he saw last of Ren before his own escape, and Futaba suggests that he may now have a palace.
> 
> They were correct.

Immediately when Akechi, the last one behind, returned to Sae’s apartment in reality, he and the rest of the group sprinted out of the complex with no talk of what they’ve horrifyingly learned of Ren during their encounter. Yusuke, still unconscious and being stood up on his feet by Ann with Ryuji’s aid, was the only thing on their minds as they boarded a train straight to Yongen-Jaya for the Takemi Medical Clinic. With little explanation nor interest required, the eccentric doctor running the barely legal health center. Once she took the fatally injured artist off Ann’s and Ryuji’s hands in the back, the other eight finally had a chance to rest their feet in the waiting room after quite a bit of nonstop running.

“ _Whew_ , thank goodness she was able to take him so early,” Ann plopped down in an end seat next to Makoto.

Morgana mewled, sneaking out from the back room where he had gone to take a brief look, “Thank goodness this place is even still open! Did you guys see some of those ‘remedies’ back there?!”

“How can you guys be so calm…?” a soft, almost whispery voice muffled isolated in the corner of the waiting room.

Everyone’s attention locked onto the voice’s, which belonged to an abnormally despondent Futaba with her head buried in her knees in a fetal position. Futaba rasped, “It’s my fault Yusuke got hurt. It’s my fault I was too weak and unsuspecting to endure Ren’s attack. It’s my fault we had to retreat and failed our objective in the first place…”

Haru’s forehead puckered seeing the normally upbeat girl so dejected, standing from her seat and walking over to comfort her, “Shh… It’s alright, Futaba-chan. Honestly, all of us were overwhelmed. If not you, someone else would have eventually fallen.”

Morgana also hopped over to the depressed girl, rubbing his head against her ankle, “Yeah, don’t feel so bad. Our objective was merely to _see_ Ren, not to bring back nor defeat him.”

Makoto, remaining in her seat, crossed one leg over the other and looked at Futaba with sincerity in her next words, “Your skills were the only reason that all of us were able to fight him longer, you know. You exhausted your own health for us, so we should be apologizing for you.”

Ryuji shot Futaba a dimpled grin and a thumbs up, “Yeah, and it’s not like you ever asked Inari to go out and help ya! It’s his fault!”

Futaba sniffled, raising her glasses with one hand and wiping the tears away with the other, “T-Thanks, you guys…”

A few moments of consolation later, Takemi emerged from the inspection room with her usual poker face which made deducing her news before she spoke more difficult to discern. Luckily, the news was positive, “Friend’s fine, you can go see him in the back. His stomach kept rumbling and he looked awful scrawny. He probably just collapsed from hunger. There _were_ a few burn marks though for some reason, but he isn’t all mangled and ugly which should be a relief by a social standing.”

Everyone stood up and rushed past the doctor into the room to see their recovered friend. Yusuke was lying down on a cheap mattress with his blazer off and sleeves rolled to the elbows to make room for cooling pads on top of his burn scars.

“I-Inari… you dummy!” Futaba burst into tears, running up to the bedridden artist and socking him in the arm.

Yusuke intuitively wrenched back at the sudden pain, though his face more than calm throughout in relief of his other friends who made it out fine, “I… I must apologize for dragging us down.”

“Not like we were gettin’ anywhere anyway, man,” Ryuji kneeled down beside Yusuke’s mattress parallel to Futaba, who was now wiping away her tears with his sleeve.

“Yeah…” Haru sighed, grabbing her wrist behind her back and kneeling against the one part of the room’s wall not strapped to the inch with strange tools, “I hadn’t felt so exhausted fighting him since I first awakened to Milady.”

“Not only that, but for some damn reason, Ren seemed pretty set on his decision… But why?” Ann rubbed her forehead in exhaustion.

Makoto pursed her lips, “What matters now is what we’re even supposed to do after Yusuke recovers… No matter how hard we fight, I doubt any of us could bear the responsibility of ending a close friend’s life if worst comes to worst.”

“Would any of us even have the energy to after chipping away at his health resulting in such an opportunity? All of his Personas have at least some spell that exposes our weaknesses,” Morgana inferred regretfully, “Is this a dead end…?”

Akechi’s mind suddenly flickered back to his discovery near the very end of their expedition to Mementos. He gasped, responding immediately to Morgana, “He… has no Personas anymore.”

The group exchanged peculiar glances before resting them on the quiet detective.

Akechi, overwhelmed by being put on the spot, stammering before finding the proper words to elaborate the event that even puzzled himself, “I—er… It was why it took a little bit before I came back to Sae’s apartment to meet you all. Right after you all had left, Ren keeled over and began screaming in pain… Even the howling winds and cries of the shadows in Mementos were victim to being suppressed by such a piercing noise. Just like during first awakenings, that circle of blue fire surrounded him, but this time all of his Personas starting with Arsene just… _evaporated_? Next thing I saw before Ann here enticed me to return was Ren in his Shujin uniform, passed out right in the middle of the depths.”

The whites of everyone’s eyes were exposed. Ann cried out, mortified by the dreadful thoughts her mind was being clouding by, “N-No…! That would mean that Ren’s stuck in Mementos powerless!”

“Then… should we go back and retrieve him? Surely, he poses no threat to us now with that knowledge,” Yusuke forced his voice out.

Ryuji looked back down at Yusuke with concern, shaking his head, “N-Nah, man… Powerless or not, you’re in no position right now to go back to the Metaverse.”

Futaba’s head slowly ascended from Yusuke’s sleeve, her sobs coming to an end, “Don’t you guys know what this means, though…? It should be obvious.”

Ryuji scoffed, “Well _obviously_ , you’re like a kid genius! Besides, we’re all too messed up by what happened so you’re gonna have to spell it out in simple words.”

“He lost his Personas, and if Sketchy Akechi’s tellin’ the truth, he was left there in his normal school uniform, not as Joker,” Futaba’s sadness fully subsided, “There’s no doubt about it that he was later ejected from Mementos due to losing the one thing that sustained one’s presence in the Metaverse. He’s somewhere in reality… prolly, if I had to guess, Leblanc since he hadn’t been in reality since before, we first left to uncover the depths.”

The other eight stayed quiet, attempting to comprehend where Futaba was insinuating.

Her jaw clenched in frustration, stomping her tiny foot against the ground, “Grr, don’t you guys get it!” she snapped, “The Ren we saw was, like, a complete one-eighty from the one we know! He was… _distorted_ , if that wording helps, and that distorted Ren wasn’t the one who obtained Arsene or those other Personas!”

“Futaba…!” Yusuke grasped what she had said immediately when she used “distorted” to describe the change, “You aren’t insisting that Ren has a palace, could you?”

Akechi thought back to Lavenza’s description of Ren’s betrayal, having witnessed it herself. He, too, wondered what could have tempted someone like him to form such a deal. An idea formed in his head, and Akechi pulled out his phone to open the Meta-Nav application.

He cleared his throat, speaking into the microphone clearly, “Amamiya Ren.”

“One candidate found.”

“N-No effin’ way!” Ryuji yelled.

“I don’t believe it…” Haru’s hazel eyes began to cloud with sorrow, “Is Ren really… _evil_?”

Futaba dismissed Haru’s statement, “No, you weren’t there, but I had a palace too. Distorted doesn’t always equate to oneself being foul.”

“Yeah. Sis isn’t evil, but her palace only manifested from her own growing envy. We shouldn’t lose faith in Ren just yet,” Makoto added, hoping that it would help raise her classmate’s spirits.

“Uh-huh, but at least you could understand the existences of hers, Futaba’s, and even all those nasty adults’ palaces,” Ann pointed out, “What would even instigate Ren having one of his own? He always seemed so normal, and happy around one of us…”

“Let’s not worry about the ‘why’ and instead worry about what,” Akechi put a hand on the shaky Ann’s shoulder with an unfocused gaze on his phone, “After all, it’s confirmed he has one. Let’s just figure out where and what the distortion is. I’m certain his shadow will at least unveil his motives and reasonings behind such things and his deal with Yaldabaoth.”

“Oh boy,” Ryuji groaned, rubbing his hands together, “Uh, let’s see… Leblanc?”

“No candidates found.”

“Uh…” Ann leaned close to Akechi’s phone, “Shujin Academy?”

“No candidates found.”

“Yongen-Jaya! Shibuya! Aoyama-Itchome! Akihabara! Shinjuku!”

“No candidates found. No candidates found. No candidates found. No candidates found. No candidates found.”

Morgana sighed, “It’s no use… This guy’s been all over Tokyo since day o—”

“One candidate found.”

“H-Huh…?! The entire city?!” Ryuji groaned, though shocked that they were able to at least get two-thirds down already.

“…Oh! It _does_ makes sense,” Yusuke’s face lit up in revelation, “There is no doubt that his arrival in Tokyo has been a grand peak in his life. He only came here on probation, after all, and the Metaverse isn’t exactly something to brush aside.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that, but now we’re at the distortion…” Ryuji bit the tip of his thumb in deep concentration, “Though, it’s gonna be a pain in the ass trying to locate Ren _and_ whatever the palace’s treasure is considering the size of the regular city. Doubt there’s gonna be any train stations either.”

“W-Well, he clearly enjoys the city considering at one point he wanted to save it,” Ann put her finger up, “So, no ‘castles’ or ‘sweatshops’, eheh…”

Makoto tapped her chin, “Er… he seems to get along with everyone he meets just fine. I mean, you have to be extremely amiable to form such close bonds with a teacher, a politician, the owner of this clinic…”

“Hardass Boss, too,” Ryuji added Sojiro’s name to the list.

Yusuke looked down at his lap, “Hm… this is rather difficult, I must admit. How about a hotel? A place that welcomes everyone.”

“No candidates found.”

“C’mon man, a ‘hotel’?” Ryuji chided with a snicker, “That’s stupid.”

Suddenly Akechi’s memory flickered back once more to something he didn’t quite understand at the time, but now something he felt correlated with the distortion.

_“The one you call your friend was nothing more than one role out of many that you happened to like, not the performer himself.”_

He remembered how unsettling and off-putting that final line directed towards Makoto was, and how even she couldn’t figure out a response.

“A performer who assumes many roles…” Akechi thought aloud, narrowing his eyes and rubbing his chin, “Ren… a man who puts on many faces in order to garner the liking and support of others…”

“…Theatre.”

“One candidate found. Searching for route to destination,” The mechanical, monotonous voice buzzed from his phone.

“ _Theatre_?!” was the last thing spoken upon the group in almost symphonic unison before being transferred back to the Metaverse.

The nauseous sensation from being abruptly pulled back into the Metaverse went away quickly as Ryuji pointed something out after looking down at his clothes.

“H-He thinks of us as a threat?! Ain’t he more of a threat than all of us combined?” Ryuji shouted.

Makoto cleared her throat, confirming Ryuji’s observation by looking down at her own attire which had changed, “I assume so… After all, we did fight him and call him out on his decision. It shouldn’t come off as a surprise.”

For whatever reason it was nighttime in Ren’s supposed palace, the group only further blinded by thick fog and an abundance of forestry.

“It would certainly be a fascinating place to capture on a canvas if only I could see…” Yusuke muttered to himself disappointedly.

Futaba groaned, shoving her way through the branches which were hitting her in the face, “Seems like you’re back to your own weirdo self.”

“Who are you calling a weirdo…?!” Yusuke retorted.

“Quiet, you guys,” Makoto asserted, finding her way ahead of the group, “The fog’s thinning out as well as the number of trees up ahead, and we don’t know what’s waiting for us in the distance. Stay. Focused.”

Akechi, who found himself admiring the serene landscape for what little he could properly view, was the last one out of the forest area. The sight ahead was unlike any he had ever seen, both in reality and in the many years he had known of the Metaverse. He began to realize that they were teleported on the equivalent of the city’s outskirts, and that the entire group was staring at a distortion the same size as Tokyo’s entirety as Ren knew it.

It was a gigantic edifice with many multicolored lights adorned underneath the roof which made it easily stand out in all its grandiose. Long, silky red curtains cascaded from the sides of the building down to the very ground they stood on with even more length to spare. Above a nearly regal double door, which stood several feet higher than the rest of the group, was a simplistic sign which read off “Amamiya Theatre House” in fancy cursive. Lastly, and most notably, in front of the building was a long, red rope stanchion which reached both ends of the structure. There was a large crowd of what looked to be guests all clad in fancy dresses and tuxedos, all adorned with masks being allowed in by some unknown presence.

“Oh my God… it really was a theatre,” Ann stared wide-eyed at the attraction.

“This place has gotta be bigger than, like, every palace combined!” Ryuji yelled loudly, catching rude glares by the some of the ostensibly snobbier cognitions.

Yusuke framed his fingers at the palace just as he did in any other, “Hm… yes. It is only natural that someone with such an extravagant flair would birth this from their heart. For some reason, his distortion displays that he sees the entire city as a show, and judging by the plating, he is its star.”

“It was a dead giveaway when he accused Makoto of merely enjoying one of his ‘roles’, not the performer behind them,” Akechi explained, “Out of everything I could come up with, a theatre seemed the classiest and most befitting of Ren.”

Ryuji spat on the red carpet underneath his feet, “Tch, so we’re only investigating ‘til we find him, right? In that case, where’s our little star?! I’m gonna kick the shit outta him and save Ren!”

The cognitive crowd suddenly began roaring and cheering wildly, parting on two sides of the theatre’s door as a familiar figure casually sauntered out.

“Speak of the devil…” Ryuji trailed off in a daze seeing the figure that was approaching them.

Unlike other palace rulers with outrageously exaggerated perceptions of themselves, Ren faced the Thieves in his Joker attire with shut eyes and a tranquil smile.

“Joke… r…” Ann’s eyes began to well before breaking from the rest of the ground with wide arms, “R-Ren!”

Ryuji tried to pull the girl back, “N-Now hold on a sec, that wouldn’t even make sense for him to be here as Joker!”

“The idiot’s right, Panther,” Out Ren’s mouth was a distorted reverb just like all of the other palace rulers’ they had fought together before. Ren’s eyes shot open, the same yellow, almost catlike, eyes that also differentiated from the Ren they knew and matched that of the rulers as well.

Ann quickly stopped her tracks and backed up when she realized the man before her was nothing more than a distorted shadow of the real person.

“No, no, none of this is making sense!” Morgana shouted in vexation, “How come Joker’s outfit didn’t change to something crazy? Isn’t this _his_ palace?! And the treasure’s signal… it’s almost like it’s right in front of us!”

It clicked. “No…” Akechi understood fully now, “It does.”

“Huh…?” Morgana watched as Akechi stepped past him, Ann, and the others and once again faced Joker, the stanchion being the only thing in their way.

“I get why Ren has a palace now…” Akechi began, eyes locked on Shadow Ren’s inhuman yellow shining ominously beneath his mask, “Probation was his only reward after an honest act of kindness trying to defend a woman against Shido. He knew that he had to appease everyone’s impression of him, as one slip-up would’ve easily resulted someone with his charges being sent to a real prison instead of juvenile hall. To do so, he had to switch between an artificial character for every person he met to gain their acceptance… a _role_.”

Makoto caught on, Akechi’s deductions evoking a gasp of realization from the sharp honor student, “…Oh!”

Akechi continued, “It’s obvious now, right? Nobody cared to know the real him. That’s why he was able to form all of those bonds to start with.”

“And what about why Ren’s shadow is… Joker?” Haru asked quietly.

Akechi chuckled before his face contorted back to its previous sternness, “Simple. The praise and the fear he earned acting as a Phantom Thief got to his head because, in a way, Joker _was_ him. He didn’t have to put on a façade to pander to anyone’s liking as Joker because they liked his decisions…” he pointed at Shadow Ren fiercely, “That’s why you’re dressed like that. I’m correct, no?”

Shadow Ren, who had remained calm all throughout Akechi’s analysis, chuckled amusingly, “Still pretending to be an ‘ace’ detective?” It was just like the real Ren said, though in a much sinister tone. The twisted shadow laughed from the bottom of his lungs, the cognitive crowd echoing his laugh like mere sheep. Shadow Ren strolled over to the end of the stanchion and slung back the rope, spreading his hands out as if welcoming the group formally into his palace, “Nevertheless, you’re correct. I made a deal with that false god because I recognized that I could drop the act and live out the rest of my days with Tokyo at the very palms of my hands thanks to ‘Joker’.”

“How disgraceful…” Yusuke rebuked in a disgusted tone.

Shadow Ren turned to Yusuke, slowly shifting his eyes to take a long look at the rest of the group’s before a sick smile played itself across his face, “Hmhm…! It seems you all are already in costume… Very well,” Shadow Ren gestured the rest to enter, “Come. Tonight’s act will be special to honor the grand opening of my theatre!”

“You bastard…” Ryuji began sprinting towards the shadow to tackle him down, “Dammit, you _know_ we would’ve accepted you as yourself had we even known you were switching between ‘roles’ or whatever the hell! Please, you don’t wanna do this!”

Before Shadow Ren could even hear what Ryuji or the rest of the group had to say, he had already vanished after a simple snap of his fingers.

“ _The stage is at the top of this building… Good luck; the show begins with or without you._ ” The faint echo of Shadow Ren’s warped tone sent a chill down everyone’s spines.

Yusuke grimaced, “…What sort of theatre makes their audience go through all of that to see the performance?”

“ _That’s_ your concern, Inari?” Futaba derided Yusuke as per usual.

However, Makoto humored his question, “Hmph, a theatre whose patrons are as brainless as its creator perceives them.”

“Well, let’s get this started,” Morgana groaned at the size of the palace, “If anything, this place _has_ to have a lot of safe rooms. Trust me, I’ve been in that guy’s bag, he hasn’t ventured _everywhere_ in Tokyo.”

“I… don’t actually think we’ll get as exhausted as one would expect reaching the top of a place like this,” Futaba furrowed her brow after fidgeting with her goggles, “This palace… doesn’t seem to have any shadows, save for pretty strong ones guarding what look to be floors.”

“That’s… weird, but look at this place!” Ryuji threw his hands in front of the theatre, “That’s still gotta be a shitton of shadows we gotta face!”

Futaba pointed her thumb up at Akechi, “We got a Wild Card user! If he’s of any use, surely he can negotiate with ‘em!”

Akechi didn’t actually know how to utilize his abilities as the Wild Card, struggling to find a way to word it without angering the short-fused girl, “Well, I—”

“He can… he just doesn’t fully have control over such powers yet.”

A soft voice answered bluntly, yet the innocence of it made it difficult to annoy the girl as Akechi would have. _Lavenza_.

The young Velvet Room attendant emerged from a blue door which appeared out of thin air after Shadow Ren had disappeared almost as if she was too scared to witness the shadow for herself. The wavering confidence in her face sold the group that she was indeed hiding from the palace ruler.

Ryuji pointed at the girl, “Yo, you’re that girl back in Mementos… So, where’s the creepy guy?”

“Do not sully my master’s name!” Lavenza flared up at the brash delinquent, turning to Akechi with a more composed look, “My apologies for not guiding you through all of this… A lot has been on my mind lately. Back when you were in reality before freeing the rest of the Phantom Thieves when you were going around talking to various people who were closely tied to them… did you not feel a surge of energy during each encounter?”

It took Akechi to think back to what seemed like ages ago, when reality it was only a few days. Akechi nodded, “Yeah… Yes, come to think of it, there was something strange while I was talking to Suzui-san.”

“As did Sae, Mishima, Hifumi, Sojiro, and myself when you talked to us…” Lavenza began to explain, “Those conversations alone have helped you establish a powerful link with the Judgement, Moon, Star, Hierophant, and Strength Arcanas respectively, as well as Justice which has been leased from yourself and bestowed upon your interaction with Shiho… Unfortunately, we do not have much time to spend teaching you how to utilize these, but I will aid you come time.”

“Aw sweet!” Ryuji pumped a fist in the air, “Looks like our Wild Card ain’t too useless after all.”

“Y-You could’ve worded that a little differently!” Ann still continued to defend Akechi.

“No, it’s quite alright,” Akechi stepped forward and surveyed the outrageously colossal-sized theatre house. He looked up at a giant, tinted window near the top corner of the building which had lit up. There was arguing that Shadow Ren had just entered the stage he instructed the Thieves to meet him at. “The show is on…!” Akechi took off, “Everyone, let’s take Ren’s treasure!”

And on that final note, Akechi and the rest of the Phantom Thieves disappeared into the cognitive crowd of Shadow Ren’s audience, though with vastly different intentions on why they were entering.

Lavenza, however, stood idly by the Velvet Room door with a startled expression. In the past, at least as the amnesiac Caroline and Justine, she had usually remained by the door to the Velvet Room near the entrances of the Metaverse’s locations. This time though she was in the palace of the former Velvet Room guest who had deceived her. In the bottom of her heart, she wanted to go off along with the Thieves. She pondered if she was even _allowed_ to go off, but a gut feeling told her that this time it was important.

She whispered an apology under her breath to her master as she struggled her tiny legs to catch up with the rest of the group who had disappeared into the palace interior.

And so, Akechi and the Phantom Thieves, unknowingly allied by Lavenza, entered the palace belonging to their former comrade. This would replace the depths of Mementos as their eighth heist, beginning their motive to rescue Ren and quash his distorted palace—the Theatre of Acedia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, Akechi and the gang catch on to the gimmick of the palace and understand a little better Ren's true thoughts.
> 
> // Thank you all sooo much for the support! I'm back now, but I might spend a lil time in between uploads just bc this series is already halfway over, so expect chapter 7 on the 25th if you all don't mind!


	7. An Act to Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Phantom Thieves infiltrate the palace, which has quite a different, intimidating, but somewhat tedious gimmick to it. Amidst the first experience of the palace's gimmick, Akechi realizes something off about its behavior which greatly hints to the true way Ren perceives the world as well as an outlook into his thoughts.

Unsurprisingly, the first room of the theatre was comprised with a fancy lobby shorn of any shadows. Instead, it was filling nonstop with cognitive patrons of whatever show Shadow Ren mentioned during their passive collision with him.

Ryuji was the second behind Akechi, sliding in through the double doors loudly and quickly inspecting the place, “Hm, let’s see. Ticket counters, check, concessions, check, coat check…”

“This would be quite the attraction if this artistry born from Ren’s heart was obstructed in reality,” Yusuke once again framed the elegant palace with his fingers.

Ryuji ignored Yusuke’s comment, jumping high and pointing at where all of the patrons were going after receiving their tickets, “…Oh, shit! An elevator! Looks like Ren ain’t so bad after all, all we gotta do is get a ticket to this ‘show’ and breeze onto the top!”

Makoto clutched her head, followed by a disappointed sigh, “…Something tells me that even if it’s Ren, it’s not going to be simple child’s play to get up there.”

It was too late for Makoto’s sense of reason to pass through Skull’s… skull. Ryuji rushed up to one of the ticket counters, the others having no other choice but to back him up in the case of the worst happening.

“Yo, eight tickets please, and to the top!” Ryuji pulled out his wallet from the right pocket of his pants and waved it in the face of the cognitive ticket seller.

Morgana slapped a paw against his face and groaned, “…Really, Skull?”

Akechi mustered a sheepish chuckle, “I don’t quite think real currency is going to any more help persuade a cognitive being…”

“Kid’s right, son,” two men in suits ascended from the shadows behind the ticket seller in the booth. Both, of course, wearing masks just as the others in the theatre.

“T-The hell?!” Ryuji slowly backed away, jamming his wallet back into his pocket and withdrawing his usual crowbar he fought with. The rest of the group also drew out their weapons.

“Dammit, Skull! This place had no shadows before you went ahead and blabbed your big mouth off!” Futaba summoned her Persona and was pulled into its opening, readying herself to aid the group.

The black mist that usually accumulated cognitions in the process of revealing themselves as shadows engulfed the bodyguards’ feet. One of them cracked his knuckles, speaking once again but this time before a contorted reverb, “We know who you are. You are blacklisted from this theatre no matter how much money you try to bribe us with.”

“‘B-Blacklisted’?!” Ann covered her mouth, taken aback.

“I-If you’ll so kindly understand,” Haru attempted to intervene, concealing her axe behind her back, “Shado—er… We’re Amamiya-kun’s friends, and he actually invited us to… p- _perform_ with him.”

Akechi drew out his sword, shaking his head without breaking focus off their two opponents, “It’s no use. We’re gonna have to fight them to go up, and it looks like the elevator won’t be an option without those tickets. On the other hand, they aren’t very intimidating; this’ll be a _massacre_!”

As if on cue, the cognitions twisted into their true forms as shadows. Against the might of the eight Thieves, however, the two shadows went down with ease. They ascended to the next floor via stairs near the back of the lobby.

The group found themselves in a giant, dimly lit auditorium with thousands of rows of seats. Surprisingly, only a few of the boxes and other seating areas were occupied, all waiting for the red curtains of the stage below to rise.

“The show’s about to begin!” the group caught an earshot of what looked to be a cognitive family’s conversation.

A woman, presumably the wife, whispered, “Indubitably this shall be quiet the performance! Afterwards, we should all go see the other six back-to-back in order to catch time to make it to the eighth up top!”

“E-Eight giant-ass floors with long-ass stairs?!” Ryuji blurted out, running ahead after spotting a set of stairs across the auditorium presumably leading to the next, “We don’t have time for this, let’s go!”

Futaba spat, “That _idiot_! Didn’t that meathead learn from the last time he broke ahead?!”

“Skull, don’t—” Yusuke tried to fetch the boy back.

Up ahead where Ryuji was headed, a barricade shot up from the ground barring off the stairs. Simultaneously, the room became fully dark, and the only lighting was used to light the stage whose curtains now began to rise.

“Another surprise,” Akechi sighed, running after Ryuji in case another danger was triggered, followed by the rest of the Thieves.

The group reunited with Ryuji, who was desperately clinging onto the barricade trying to destroy it. After one final, pathetic, attempt, Ryuji bounced off angrily, “Gah! Stupid, stupid, STUPID! The hell kinda theatres has Ren been in where they _imprison_ their attendance with a booby trap?”

“…Maybe that’s because this is intentional. Look up there,” Makoto broke from a moment of deep concentration, pointing up at an indoor marquee on the side of the stage.

“You’re right,” Haru read off the letters in awe, “This show is apparently called ‘Heist I: The Castle’…”

After intense focus trying to decrypt what the name of the showing meant, Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana exchanged the same knowing glances.

“H-Hell no…” Ryuji felt his throat dry out, rasping his next words, “‘Castle’ as in…”

Ann’s eyes rounded, “K-Kamoshida’s castle…?”

“Kamoshida?” It took Yusuke awhile to understand, having not been a member of the Phantom Thieves during its foundation, until recognizing the name from a few offhand times it was mentioned, “Then the other six ‘shows’ that lady was referring to could only be referring to the other palaces… Heist II: The Museum…”

“…Heist III: The Bank,” Makoto trailed off.

Futaba gulped, “H-Heist IV: The Pyramid…”

“Heist V: The Sweatshop…” the fifth palace ruler’s daughter mustered.

“Sis’ palace, the casino…” Makoto struggled to continue.

Akechi felt his spine shiver as he regressed back into his own memories, “Then that only leaves… Shido’s palace. ‘Heist VII: The Cruiser’, assuming it goes by the same naming pattern.”

Morgana scratched the back of his head, “T-Then, the eighth should naturally be of Mementos, but we never finished that so I have no idea what could be up at the peak of this place in its stead…”

“I guess that just means we have to pique this immense curiosity of ours by viewing the shows and advancing,” Yusuke sat himself down at one of the many seats on the bottom row.

“T-This ain’t the time to get all cozy, Inari!” Ryuji yelled.

“ _Shh_ , you’re gonna interrupt the show!” Futaba whisper-shouted, sitting herself down playfully next to Yusuke.

“You too?!”

Ann flipped her hair back, making her way to an empty seat as well, “Come on, Skull. All we have to do is watch a few plays by Ren’s account of the events. Better than tiring ourselves out with annoying shadows!”

Ryuji brooded, slouching over in mental exhaustion, “At least by defeating a buncha shadows we can continue forward to our own pace… Man, for our leader’s palace I would’ve thought this place would be more intense!”

Haru smiled hopelessly, perching next to Ann and crossing her legs, “In a way, it _does_ make sense…”

“Joker was never the kind of guy to be as brash as the other palace rulers,” Makoto added, sitting at the end by Haru.

Akechi patted Ryuji on the back and pushed his way over to an empty seat between Ann and Yusuke, “Easy now, Skull. This is from Joker’s perspective, is it not? I happen to enjoy the idea of analyzing how these events unfolded in his eyes.”

“T-That’s just ‘cause you have some creepy fixation on him, man!” Ryuji hopelessly abided by the rest of the team’s decision and sat moodily next to Futaba.

Morgana was the last to sit down, instead deciding to curl up and lie down in front of Ann’s and Akechi’s feet.

The first show began, thoroughly elaborating Ren’s arrival to Tokyo, discovering the Metaverse and Kamoshida’s palace, and, of course, meeting Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana. While the show accurately depicted the incidents the three other founders could agree with, there was one interesting difference. The entire show’s cast depicted of cognitive performers, one of which being a cognitive Ren. Occasionally, cognitive Ren would be the only one in the spotlight, delivering a monologue of the exact things he thought after various major events.

_“Everyone, the principal, homeroom teacher, even the man who took me in dismissed everything when I stated the probation was on a false charge.”_

_“They didn’t care until I started ass-kissing them… Sojiro never cared until I faked an interest in coffee, Kawakami only bothered because I later discovered she was moonlighting as a maid, and you can probably guess what I did to make the rest of my peers accept me; not being me.”_

While the rest of the Thieves were simply puzzled and saddened by these monologues, Akechi took in every word in those scenes. It reminded him of himself so much, and that would be a recurrent thought throughout each of the shows they would be forced to sit through next.

_“…And that was only the first heist for the newly formed ‘Phantom Thieves of Hearts’. The Metaverse was a blessing in disguise, and I secretly longed for many more than just seven palaces to sprout. ‘Joker’ was me, someone that everyone loved in one way or another. The next heist, the museum, would only cement the idea that we weren’t merely a rumor.”_

The audience didn’t care nor show much sympathy during any of his monologues, talking rudely during the scenes of how it was the worst part of the showing. As soon as the real story concluded before Ren’s final monologue, the patrons stood up and applauded despite the show not being officially over, some even disappearing from the auditorium as soon as Ren started talking.

Akechi was the first to notice, looking over at the cognitive family they eavesdropped on leaving, “Those bastards…! Did you notice how the audience weren’t even bothered by those monologues?”

“They clad themselves in fancy ballgowns and tuxedos and masks and yet act like complete children whenever Ren opened himself up…” Yusuke grimaced, “How fruitless…!”

Ann sniffled, having cried during each of his orations, “They acted like those monologues were some high sigh to go off like it was some intermission… Didn’t they see that it was a cry for help?!”

“Yeah, how’d those assholes get in before us?!” Ryuji began to boil with anger.

“Remember, this is how Ren views it all,” Makoto reminded her infuriated underclassmen, “Those scenes were Ren without the mask, his true thoughts during each of those events. From his perspective, nobody cared about the real him, nor wish to…”

Suddenly, the barricade which kept them from proceeding retracted into the ground. Haru pointed this out, clasping her hands together, “The barricade! We can continue forward!”

Futaba was about to get up from her seat, freezing midway in shock, “H-Hold on, Noir! I’m getting strong signals. Like, _really_ strong! Get back!”

“Wha—”

Suddenly the audience burst into a state of panic and terror as the curtains to the stage reopened, this time a giant shadow manifesting from a giant accumulation of dark mist. Just as shadows do when defeated, the shrieks of the crowd which rattled the whole auditorium came to an abrupt stop when they dissolved into the floor.

The shadow’s skin was a hot pink, multiple arms bursting from its stomach. The face was deformed, huge, bulbous eyes nearly gouging out and a slick, purple tongue lolling from its wide mouth. A set of horns sprouted from underneath the shadow’s dark unkempt hair. The only clothes embellishing the shadow was a giant crown resting lopsidedly on its head, and a traditional regal robe. It took up the entirety of the stage, surprisingly not causing any damage when it manifested.

Ann recognized the shadow immediately, face hot as embarrassing and equally traumatizing memories swarmed her mind, “N-No way, that’s—”

Ryuji knew too, recognizing the messy black hair which was the only part of Kamoshida that remained, “That bastard…! Kamoshida!”

In the play, Kamoshida was merely portrayed by his passive shadow form rather than the one they remembered fighting. This was the first time his final form, Asmodeus, was evinced.

Morgana took out his saber, “So this is the scheme of how this palace will play out… The ‘strong shadows’ Oracle received signals on were referring to the palace rulers!”

“And it would seem that after every show, we have to fight the final phase of each show’s antagonist… Which makes Madarame next,” Yusuke gulped, shifting his eyes away.

The shadow, which rested on a throne, reaching in with all four arms into the trophy which materialized between its thighs, withdrawing a fork, a glass of wine, a sword, and a golden knife. He stared hungrily at Ann, who winced.

“…Ugh!” Ann spat, slashing out her whip, “You _creep_!”

One strike was all it took for the shadow to nearly croak, causing even Ann to pull back in confusion rather than finishing it off.

“Wait… his health has nearly halved!” Futaba, who didn’t even need to enter her Persona, could tell by the readings on her specialized goggles.

“I thought you read off its power as being strong…?” Yusuke questioned the baffled navigator.

Futaba was too busy to even spit on the artist, focusing intensely into her goggles’ vacillating readings on the shadow, “I-I did… At least, Ren’s shadow seems to consider it a threat.”

“Who the hell cares?!” Ryuji growled, summoning Seiten Taisei, “Fry ‘em with a Ziodyne, Seiten Taisei!”

Asmodeus flinched, now beginning to visibly pant as the bolt of electricity connected and shocked the creature.

As the creature posed little threat, Akechi withdrew his sword and his ruby eyes studied the severely weakened demon, “…Could it be because Ren’s memory recognizes this shadow as being weak _at the time_? You all are now fairly powerful, having nearly a year to get used to your Personas and strengthen, but… Mona, Skull, Panther, wasn’t this grotesque monster at one point your toughest battle?”

“Yeah…” Ann understood Akechi’s theory, “Skull unloaded nearly the entire magazine of his gun on the thing and the bullets just rebounded off of Kamoshida harmlessly.”

Akechi chuckled ominously, “I see. In that case…!” He took out his sword once more and leaped onto the stage, piercing the creature through the abdomen and pinning it down against its throne rather than killing it. He glanced down at the three other founders, “I believe its only poetic justice for one of you to destroy it. Have at it,” he insisted, keeping the shadow well down with his blade.

Right before the shadow tried to regain its health by sipping from its chalice, Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana executed an all-out attack onto the creature which had made their lives a living hell at one point.

“Seiten Taisei!”

“Hecate!”

“Mercurius!”

A bolt of lightning was all it took for the shadow to rest its eyes permanently, the flames and harsh gusts of wind only adding insult to injury. The shadow went down with ease, dissipating into the black mists it was birthed from.

“Hell yeah…!” Ryuji fist-bumped Ann after returning to the ground from their attack, “Damn, cognition or not, it felt good to pummel that shithead again!”

Ann gave a peace sign and giggled, “The rest of this is gonna be a cakewalk!” her stomach growled, prompting her to blush in embarrassment by how loud it was, “…Eheh… speaking of cake…”

“You guys,” Futaba waited until the group’s attention was on her, “There seems to be readings of a safe room that just opened up in this area. It’s coming from the first set of stairs, let’s go!”

The group advanced to the second floor. Instead of being another supposed auditorium for narrating the events during Madarame’s palace in the form of a play by Ren’s perception, it was a small, crowded lobby. Next to a set of stairs presumably leading to the next auditorium were three concession stands, the door connecting to the back room presumably to restock the refreshments actually leading to a safe room for the group where they sat themselves down at a roundtable to discuss their progress.

“Oh, finally!” Ann moaned in exhaustion while sitting herself down, “…is what I would say if that was as much of a challenge as I thought.”

Ryuji sighed, “I dunno, watching through that a second time is pretty tiresome on its own. I mean, you realize that you, me, and Mona have seen all of this already, right?”

Haru scratched her cheek confusedly, “It was pretty interesting to me, though…”

Ryuji shook his head hopelessly, “Nah, that’s just ‘cause you’ve only been around for like two of these heists.”

Akechi agreed with the girl, “I happen to agree with Noir as well.”

Ryuji simply inhaled sharply and shook his head again, “…You’ve only been with us for one. Don’t even try that shit, Crow.”

Yusuke put his hand up and testified to Akechi statement, “Hold on, Skull, I would like to agree with Crow on the matter. These plays seem to just be condensed tellings of how each major part transpired, not to mention the monologues.”

“Yeah, and those monologues are the important part,” Makoto nodded, removing her mask to wipe away beads of sweat, “Did you hear some of the stuff Ren was thinking back then? Shadow or not, it’s clear that he wasn’t as content as he appeared. The audience were like monsters whenever Ren would start his soliloquies.”

A melodic voice belonging to a certain young girl once again surprised the group with a sudden answer, “I believe that those monologues are what you all should be paying the closest attention to, not the general events of what you have already witnessed.”

“Lavenza…?” Akechi looked over Yusuke’s shoulder at the safe room entrance. Indeed, it was the fragile-looking Velvet Room attendant with her grimoire resting under her arm, closing the door behind her so as to not draw attention to the others, “Pardon any offense, but don’t you usually stand by the Velvet Room door near the Metaverse entrances?”

Ryuji glanced widely at the almost out-of-place child, “How the hell’d _you_ get all the way up here in one piece?”

Lavenza tilted her head and played with a strand of her platinum locks, “Simple. I waited for the rest of you to clear out the danger ahead and pave the way. As powerful as I may be, I’m afraid my defenses are as frail as one could opine.”

Futaba lingered the conversation topic, leaning forward over the table to get a closer look at the girl, “Damn right! You’re, like, poster girl for dainty moe characters!”

“It matters not now,” Yusuke awkwardly tried to pull Futaba back into her seat. He looked down at Lavenza’s big, amber eyes, “However, it would probably be best for you to stay with us… I’m guessing you broke from your usual position because this is the palace of the one you guided before.”

“Indeed,” Lavenza agreed with a small bob of her head, pleased by Yusuke’s deduction, “Besides, the shadows will only get stronger from here. Not to mention, more should be showing up on the radar… Futaba?”

Futaba concurred, “She’s right…! The security level is skyrocketing! W-Well, at least above twenty percent. What the heck’s going on?!”

Lavenza made her way towards the table, joining the eight, “The Trickster isn’t nearly as blind as the previous palace rulers. I assume the sudden spurt in the security level is stemming from his realization that something is off. After all, you all did return to public cognition, so it’s only natural that he would suggest that the Phantom Thieves were up to something.”

“Yeah, I mean, I guess…” Ann rubbed the nape of her neck and shifted her eyes, “He didn’t seem to deny that his actions were wrong, after all. In fact, it almost seemed like he was justifying them.”

“It doesn’t make sense at all for his character…” Yusuke furrowed his brows, “I mean, I suppose I understand where he’s coming from when he says that he grew tired of trying to pander himself to someone’s interests, but I never would have expected him to make such a fatal choice and team up with an entity as blatantly evil as Yaldabaoth.”

“I understand perfectly,” Akechi grit his teeth, “The subconscious expectations Ren set as Joker has twisted him. People accepted Ren indirectly by showering the Phantom Thieves with praise, and where would all of that attention go had he denied Yaldabaoth?”

“…The Metaverse would be erased and there _would_ be no more Phantom Thieves to praise,” Makoto nodded and rubbed her chin, “After we destroyed the Holy Grail and Yaldabaoth for good, Joker would disappear and Ren would have no form of escape from being looked down upon for his probation and supposedly pretending to be anyone but himself to appeal to them.”

“Exactly,” Akechi began to perspire, beads of sweat dripping down from his brown hair after another realization, “Wait… He felt alone from differing from a society that detests individuality… He had to… put on a façade…”

As Akechi began to trail off, Ann waved her hand in front of the boy’s clouding, red eyes, “…Um, Akechi?”

Akechi trembled as he regained his senses, looking back up at the group and then to Lavenza from his daze, “Ah, nothing. It just sort of reminded me of myself, is all.”

Futaba didn’t want to bother comforting Akechi, still slightly shaken by having him around. Instead, she removed her goggles and bore intensely into Lavenza’s eyes with her purple, “…Okay, well how do we get the security levels to stop going all batshit? We gotta grind to the top of this palace to- _day_!”

“We have to try and keep him distracted,” Lavenza frowned, “but we aren’t omnipresent. There’s no way we can both sidetrack him in reality and finish his palace here, and splitting up into two groups would only make things more challenging for both realms.”

Futaba burst into laughter, “Ahahahaha! Lavenza, Lavenza, Lavenza, our sweet token moe!” The navigator then spun around, putting on her goggles again and tweaking around until a green, holographic-like keyboard and screen appeared in front of her and the rest of the group. As she began typing, she smiled a dimpled-grin, “Hehe, don’t underestimate my ability just ‘cause I can’t fight… Aaaaaand, send!”

One final tap a few moments later and the hologram disappeared, the girl lifting her goggles to wipe imaginary sweat off her head. The group including Lavenza looked puzzled.

“Um… Futaba-chan?” Haru meekly put up her index finger and asked on behalf of the others trying to figure out what just happened, “What was that you just did?”

“Save us from being overwhelmed, that’s what! Navigator powers, woo!” Futaba riled herself up, now regaining her full enthusiasm after Yusuke’s injury.

Yusuke himself sighed, “F-Futaba, please.”

“…Oh, fine,” the hyperactive navigator settled down, “Well, we can’t reach anyone outside normally through our phones, so I just used my Persona to connect to my computer at home and call up some people like Mishima to go to Leblanc and hang out with Ren…”

“That’s great Futaba!” Ann rooted for the girl.

“But!” Futaba shot up immediately, and pointed at herself haughtily, “I am not all take and no give; I promised him that _you_ would go out on a date with him, Ann!”

“L-Lucky!” Morgana blurted out.

The bashed, red look on Ann’s face drove Ryuji up the wall, causing him to nearly fall back out his seat after breaking into a wild cackle, “…Ahaha, tha-oh, ‘that’s great, Futaba!’, haha!” he mocked Ann’s voice, prompting her to give him a hard smack which cracked loudly upon contact with his skin.

The crack of skin crashing against skin resonated off the walls of the small room. “Oh my…” Yusuke commented under his breath.

“T-That’s not funny!” Ann bared her teeth and lashed out, now soundlessly beating at her cruel childhood friend.

“W-Well,” Akechi cleared his throat, trying not to laugh at the expense of the Thief who was probably the nicest to him, standing up from his seat, “I suppose that’s one way to advance safely. Should we press forward?”

“Yeah…” Haru, also stifling a giggle, kicked her seat under the table and walked towards the door, “Yusuke, are you ready? Madarame’s up next, and I understand if you don’t—”

“It’s fine,” Yusuke, also in the process of getting up, insisted, “We should get going. No matter how much the stakes of this palace have been raised, I haven’t a doubt in my mind that we can’t see it through.”

Ryuji rubbed the spot Ann had slapped him, standing up from the ground he had fallen back onto and giving a thumbs up, “H-Hell yeah! Let’s kick Madarame’s ass in, Yusuke, get some of that built-up stress out, and do the same to the other assholes we fought ‘til we get to Shadow Ren at the top!”

Just as Akechi was about to step out first, he felt a small hand reach his hip and tugging at his attire’s cloak.

Lavenza stared intensely up at his eyes with a smile, “…You’ve already grown a lot. As a way to thank you, I’ll teach you how to negotiate with these shadows so you can utilize them against the true battle awaiting us at the top.”

_I’ve grown…?_ Akechi opened his mouth, but was ultimately speechless. _No, she’s right. I haven’t felt so… happy in my life until truly befriending the Phantom Thieves, even if it’ll take a bit longer to earn their trust. Letting go of my front was what opened my eyes, and I want to show Ren the same… I don’t want to kill him anymore._

“…I want to save him,” Akechi gave voice to the last of his thoughts to answer Lavenza’s.

The party, now allied with Lavenza, exchanged nods of confirmation and turned their focus to the safe room door, bracing any challenge that may come their way. They were motivated not to defeat, but to save their chained leader from his growing distortions. This courage and desperation to meet Ren’s shadow fueled them, allowing them to waft through the powerful shadows that had materialized from the ever-increasing security level.

It was around this time that their former leader had awakened in the real world from being knocked out in Mementos, slowly beginning to realize the powerless traitor he had become.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, so as to not show every single palace done over again, chapter 8 focuses on Ren's reawakening to the real world and Futaba's plan on distracting him in action. It all begins with a text from Mishima asking to hang out, the number of people that join them slowly increasing. However, as Ren begins to realize something seems engineered about most of his confidants just so happening to cross paths, Futaba's plan drastically begins to backfire.
> 
> // thank you all so much for the support on this fic! I gotta admit, a lot of stuff is happening IRL keeping me away from the one-chapter-every-three-days thing i used to have when i had the time, but I promise at least one chapter a week since i'm still really invested in this story. Next chapter should be out on the 30th!


	8. Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Akechi and the Phantom Thieves advance Ren's palace, Futaba creates a diversion that comes into play as soon as Ren regains consciousness in the real world utilizing Mishima and the most of his confidants.

Ren awakened in the shabby bed of Leblanc’s attic he hadn’t felt the comfort in since Christmas Eve. January was almost halfway over, and there Ren was waking up for the first time of the new year. For once, he felt a sense of tranquility in his unconscious state.

That was, until the memories slowly began flashing back to him while he was returning to his senses.

He remembered everything; the exact words of Yaldabaoth’s deal he complied with, the nights he spent in Mementos claiming the hearts of anyone who merely opposed him, his rising popularity. His memories then flashed to the day before, his confrontation against the Phantom Thieves—the ones he left for dead in one of the depth’s many prisons. At first, his hazy mind didn’t allow him to remember the logistics behind how they were freed, but then he remembered one crucial detail. The person who stood out like a sore thumb, the one who rallied his friends against him…

“Akechi…!” The boy finally remembered everything, shooting up in his bed in a cold sweat. He glinted forward at the edge of the bed, wondering where Morgana was before his sleepiness finally ceased.

He let his eyes adjust to the light before sitting up, lost in the environment. He ran his hands through his even messier dark mane of curls only for his hands to fall hopelessly into his lap. Indeed, he was in Leblanc, and there was no way he could return to the Metaverse. One look at his phone he had collapsed with in hand told him as much, the Meta-Nav application no longer visible.

Emptiness. As much as Morgana’s shrill, raucous meows vexed him, the attic just wasn’t the same without it. Another thing that struck Ren, was that now his phone was no longer vibrating uncontrollably with the texts of his friends; they had removed him, and presumably added Akechi back now that he seemed redeemed. Everything was taken from him, and soon the praise from the news will turn into questions on Joker’s whereabouts, eventually dying down for good. Joker was gone, the one way his true self could see the light.

Was there a draft in the room somewhere? It was snowing outside, but the space heater was still on at its max settings. However, Ren still felt a chill send down his spine, and after a single sob, he realized that he was one the verge of tears.

“This… can’t be happening…” Ren shook his head, resting it in the palm of one of his hands and trying his best to steady his tone.

He thought his deal with Yaldabaoth would finally allow him to drop the act and eventually claim the praise as Joker for himself, even considering revealing himself as the true name of the ‘Phantom Thief’ so he could finally be himself.

But in due course, the contract led to his ultimate demise. He was a nobody, and even if he tried to claim credit for his past feats as Joker, there was no more proof to it. He lost his friends, who were now allied with _Akechi_ out of all people. His vision began to blur through a thick layer of tears.

“How could I do something so foolish…?” he panted, “D-Dammit!”

That scream brought the attention to a certain someone downstairs. “Ren, is that you…? It’s been since Christmas Eve, get down here boy!” The words, though impatient, concealed a bare hint of sincere care.

_Sojiro._

He wanted to shout “coming!” to the man who had the heart to at least give him a home during his probation, but the wobbliness of his voice would easily reveal that something was off. Wishing to avoid worrying the man, he answered back with a hum and pushed himself off the edge of the bed.

Ren changed into his casualwear, an unbuttoned blazer, cream sweater with a black trim, blue jeans, and brown penny loafers. It was simple, but no longer to conceal a grander identity. He was nothing more than an ordinary troublemaker to society. He put on his glasses last. They weren’t there for any visionary correction, but they were still something he treasured dear to him. They were subconsciously what put him in the mindset of all of the roles he assumed.

“Ren!” Sojiro barked once again.

“Right here, sir,” the middle-aged man overheard, watching the teenager rush down the stairs apropos of not angering him with waiting.

Sojiro stared wide-eyed at Ren through the frames of his glasses, admittedly shocked that he was correct, “Oh, uh… wow. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to actually be here,” he rose his chin to scratch underneath, “Uh… long time no see? W-Wait, no, dammit, it’s been _weeks_! I thought you were dead, and I don’t need the police ransacking this place a second time.”

Ren simulated an apologetic smile, “Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t return any earlier.”

Sojiro groaned, waving a dismissive hand and turning to the coffee machine, “Yeah, yeah, I’m just glad you’re alright… Does this mean you succeeded in taking the public’s hearts, however that works?”

For a second, Ren exposed his true nature of terror before recollecting himself. Thankfully Sojiro was too focused on grinding up his coffee beans to pay any mind. Ren simply adjusted his glasses when the confused man rest his attention on him again, “…It’s going to take a bit, I’m afraid. After all, the palace is fueled by everyone’s collective desir—”

“‘Palace’? I’m gonna have to stop you there,” Sojiro raised a brow and chuckled, “Don’t throw any more of this Metaverse lingo, just don’t get killed in the place is all I care about.”

Ren smiled warmly, “…Thank you, sir.”

“Oh, but one more thing.”

Sojiro’s voice stopped Ren from retreating back into his room. Ren leaned back and shifted his grey eyes to meet Sojiro’s, “Yeah?”

“I know you insisted before that the boy was alright, even lamenting his death, but uh…” Sojiro struggled to find the right words, instead going straight to the point, “I—Look, what I’m trying to say’s that… Akechi’s back.”

Ren feigned shock so that Sojiro wouldn’t suspect anything more, “What?! He’s alive…? When did you see him?”

“A few days ago, actually,” Sojiro replied, “He looked bad, but he certainly had the energy to fake his usual talk show charisma. He came in right before closing, which pissed me off a little, but surprisingly it wasn’t that bad… He did ask if I knew Futaba and that cat, though, which was a little strange…” Sojiro scratched his beard, “But hey, he didn’t make me stay overtime, which is good.”

Ren’s shock had now become real. Almost instantly, he ran back in front of Sojiro on the other end of the counter between them, “Futaba… and Morgana? You know them?”

Sojiro stared blankly at the boy before chortling and turning around with a shake of his head, “Oh, dammit kid, quit playing around. It’s been awhile, by the way, so I’ll give you today off.”

And that was around the time Futaba as Oracle in the Metaverse sensed the increasing security level of Ren’s palace after Lavenza had heeded a warning of it in the safe room.

Luckily, she had a quick countermeasure.

Before Ren could even consider trying to figure out how Sojiro remembered his daughter and their cat, he felt his phone in his pocket buzz.

It was a text from Mishima. _Hey! I overheard you were back, and I wanna see you. Hang out at Gigolo Arcade at 2?_

Ren slightly rose his eyes to the top of his phone screen, which read off 1:52pm. He looked back down, not wanting to upset the boy even if it was just Mishima.

_Sure. I’m on my way._

He adjusted his glasses, jamming his hands in his pockets and acknowledging Sojiro’s goodbye with a nod. Ren’s thoughts were purely set on making it over to Shibuya before two, though a little surprised by how last minute Mishima’s proposal was.

It was just what Futaba planned.

“Ren! You made it!” Mishima greeted the slightly taller boy when he caught sight of him approaching the arcade.

Ren smiled, reaching his hand out from his pocket, “Yeah, right on time too. Sorry for not answering sooner.”

“How could I get mad at a _hero_?!” Mishima looked taken aback, “Anyways, let’s go. Gun About has gotten _serious_ updates, man! As in, they nerfed a lot of the overpowered guns and armor to make it fairer!”

“You say fair, but I just think you _sucked_!” A smaller boy with dark hair and eyes shoved past Mishima at the entrance. Ren immediately recognized the red cap reading off “GET SMOKED” and the blue custom-made varsity jacket with “NOOBS” across the chest. It was Shinya Oda, the elementary school student Ren had helped with his parental issues.

 _Joker made this kid happy, not me…_ Ren narrowed his eyes at the thought.

Luckily, Shinya didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he was in a rather immature argument with Mishima until the latter admitted defeat, turning his attention to the only other high school student in their group.

“W-Well, wanna come inside? It’s pretty cold out, and I kinda wanna get the hang of this game before school starts!” Mishima gestured Ren indoors where it was much warmer.

Shinya gave a haughty laugh, “ _Ha_! My school doesn’t start back ‘til around the end, so I’ll only be getting stronger, Yuuki!”

The two nearly dragged Ren in, though only because a new thought was jading the boy.

_Since when have Shinya and Mishima been so buddy-buddy…?_

The three played for hours, naturally Shinya besting Ren and utterly pummeling Mishima who had been thoroughly insisting “next time I’ll beat you” resulting in their overlong stay. It was evening when they accepted the fact that Shinya was simply unbeatable, Mishima vouching that they go out to eat somewhere once his stomach began rumbling violently.

“That was… exhausting,” Mishima’s face was etched with a newfound depression after humiliating himself by losing against a child.

“I’m beat as well,” Ren nodded as him, Mishima, and Shinya left the arcade for the day.

Shinya grinned malevolently, tugged at Mishima’s shirt, “Speaking of beat, you gotta pay for my food, loser!”

Ren didn’t think it could be possible for Mishima to look anymore gloomy, the boy moaning in misery, “O-Oh, fine… Big Bang Burger _only_ , though since they’re the cheapest place around!”

But Shinya wasn’t complaining—little kids loved greasy, unhealthy fast-food—instead obliging with no argument.

Just as the three were about to cross the snowy street, they heard loud snapping to their left. Immediately as they looked in that direction, they were blinded by a flash of light followed by another snap.

“Yo-hoo~!” a voice sang. Once the three regained their vision, they saw a woman’s head poke out from behind the camera that had blinded them. The woman had dark, bobbed hair and brown eyes, as well as full, red lips and a pair of orange-tinted shades on the top of her hair. There was another detail that Shinya hadn’t the class to keep to himself.

“Ew!” Shinya pinched his nose and imitated a vomiting noise, “You reek of alcohol, lady! Get away from us!”

“Ohya…?” Ren looked down and curled his index finger around his chin. _What is she doing here?_

Ohya shot Shinya a glare and sashayed playfully towards Ren, brushing her hand against his cheek and giggling, “How ya doing, my cute little scoop deliverer?” she then looked over at Mishima, immediately recognizing him and running up to him to pinch his cheeks, “…Aww, and look who we have here! The adorable little Kamoshida victim, ehehe!”

“Sh-shtop ith!” Mishima pouted, attempting to force the woman off of him.

Once Mishima finally pushed away the doting, assumedly tipsy news reporter, Ohya averted her attention back up onto Ren, “Soo, a little birdie told me you three boys were going to Big Bang Burger? Ditch that, come up to Crossroads with me and I’ll treat you to some real food, on the house!”

Normally Ren would be happy to comply with Ohya’s offer, but an odd feeling shook him. Instead of agreeing right off the bat, the boy struck the woman a funny glance, “…What’s the occasion?”

“T-The occasion?” Ohya blinked a few times before returning to her drunken slur, “Ohhh, quit playin’ around, we haven’t seen ya in a year…! Ahaha, well really a few weeks, but still! We all thoughtcha died! Now, come along!”

As the woman tried to pull Ren and Mishima away, Shinya rushed up in front of the woman and spread his arms wide with fury in his eyes, “H-Hold on, what about me? My food! They’re not gonna let a kid into the bar!”

“I’m sure Lala-chan could find you some apple juice and a sandwich in the back refrigerator, come along!” Ohya gestured the boy to follow.

Shinya pouted, but didn’t quite want to leave his friends yet, trudging behind the two high schoolers, “…Fine, lady. But Mishima, you still gotta fulfill our deal! Tomorrow I expect you to treat me to lunch at Big Bang Burger!”

“Why me…?” Mishima grated, biting his lip as the eccentric news reporter made them follow her to the train station.

It was all according to plan—well, Futaba’s. By utilizing the bonds Ren had made over the months with those who weren’t currently acting as Phantom Thieves, Ren was ultimately too distracted to worry about the group. She reached out to Mishima first, explaining the situation and, of course, his reward of going out once with Ann. Unlike him, though, the girl also knew that Ren’s other friends were aware of him being one of the Phantom Thieves, reaching out to each of his confidants and explaining the situation without going into too much detail.

And it worked, the Phantom Thieves now officially led by Akechi thanks to Lavenza’s help teaching him the abilities of the Wild Card allowing them to advance his palace safely, already reaching up to Shadow Okumura.

Ren, Mishima, and Shinya, led by Ohya, arrived to the near-arctic Shinjuku and began to approach the area to get to Crossroads before being caught by a familiar face.

Seated in a fortune teller booth around the corner was a golden-haired woman with purple eyes attending to a Kosei student’s fortunes. In the midst of a tarot reading, the woman also appeared to recognize Ren, standing up from her seat and waving at him, “…Oh! Ren! How lovely to see you on this brisk winter night, and it seems you have some friends with you as well!”

“Ren…?” the Kosei student the clairvoyant was servicing uttered under her breath. She looked over at Ren with wide eyes, “O-Oh…! It really is you! Does this mean we’ll be playing shoji at the church soon, now that you’re back?”

Ren stopped in his track, his dark eyebrows knitting downward as he was now deep in thought. _Chihaya and Hifumi? This is certainly getting strange…_

“Ren, are you sick? You don’t look too well…” Hifumi expressed her concerns, leaving her seat from Chihaya’s booth and tending to the boy.

By the time the boy came back from his distant demeanor, Hifumi was standing right in front of him, feeling his hand. He scratched at his cheek with his other, looking down at the peculiar girl and warding away her worries, “I’m fine.”

Chihaya gulped, “Ren… your aura seems different…”

“How so?” Ren humored the prophetess.

“Like… a downward spiral and the air of a man who’s slowly losing everything…”

Just as Ren froze, Mishima shook a fist in front of the fortune teller and yelled, “How dare you! Ren’s been through a lot, how could you just… _sully_ him like that?!”

“Yeah!” Shinya added, glaring up angrily at the woman.

The woman’s lips quivered, shaking her head frantically and contritely staring at Ren, “M-My bad… I shouldn’t be too arrogant by just making deductions like that on the spot. Care for a more accurate reading?” Chihaya offered a discount on a reading as an apology.

“A-Actually, we were all gonna go to Crossroads to grab a bite! We can worry about all that fortune stuff you do later, Mifune-san!” Ohya intervened.

It was at this moment that Ren noticed a small, though bizarre exchange between Ohya to Chihaya; a quick wink.

And upon that wink, Chihaya gasped, “O-Oh…! I understand, Ichiko, I was actually considering closing up shop anyway. You know, you don’t get much business sitting around in such brisk weather like this.”

“I would like to join you all as well,” Hifumi tilted her head and smiled affectionately, “I’ve been outdoors for so long, why… I can’t even feel my own fingers. A little warming up and a quick snack won’t be so bad before I go back to my dorm room. School has already started back up for me.”

Unable to get a word out, Ren was dragged along by Ohya once again, now joined by Chihaya and Hifumi, to the Crossroads bar.

“Lala-chan!” Ohya sang, the bell attached to the top of Crossroads’ door chiming as she brought in the group, “Ren’s back, so this place’ll be a full house! All on my tab!”

“Can you even handle that, Ohya?” Lala Escargot spoke in her usual gruff voice, wiping off a dirty platter. She then looked down with a slight second of shock at Shinya, “…And a kid younger than the high schooler?”

Ohya was too deep into the bar to accept making a detour, sitting herself down at her usual spot in the booth and chortling, “Ahaha, yeah, just fix ‘im up a sandwich and a juice box!”

Lala muttered something so low under her breath that not even keen Ren could discern before retreating to the back off the bar, presumably to get something non-alcoholic for the little boy.

The TV over at the corner of the bar’s ceiling suddenly began to flip onto a news station, the jingle of the intro playing out before broadcasting a middle-aged man outside of the police station.

“Breaking news, now just in! It appears the chief of police has undergone a ‘change of heart’, attesting to covering up his squadron’s and his own crimes of police brutality and other forms of police misconduct including coerced false confessions, intimidation, and unwarranted searches. Sexual misconduct is also being alleged by a fair number of anonymous women.” Ren glanced down from the news reporter and at his friends, expecting them to cheer on the ‘Phantom Thief’ who had busted such serious felonies.

Nobody reacted, instead shooting each other strange looks Ren didn’t have the concentration to study the emotions of.

Ren almost let his guard down and appear hurt, looking down at his hands in his lap and going back into deep thought.

_This doesn’t make sense at all._

_I’m used to bumping in one of them while hanging out with another on some occasions…_

He temporarily looked back up, watching as Hifumi was chatting with _Shinya_ out of all people about God knows what.

_I’m starting to suspect this isn’t a mere coincidence._

It couldn’t have been, because the bell once again chimed with a swift kick to the door. A silver-haired middle-aged man wearing a gray hat with yellow ear defenders, heavy clothes, and an overall shifty appearance entered the bar. He ran his hand down behind his neck, drawing Ren’s attention to a familiar gecko tattoo as the man cracked his neck and sat himself down in the last remaining seat in the bar.

Iwai Munehisa had entered Crossroads, simply turning his head to Ohya and asking a brief question, “…So, where’s the bartender? Hope I’m not waitin’ long, today was tough.”

“She’s in the back gettin’ the kid some orange juice or whatever,” Ohya snarked.

“Iwai…?” Ren felt his mouth open on his own.

Iwai rose a brow, turning his body fully around to look at the high schooler at the very end of the booth, “…Oh, hey kid. Shoulda expected a punk like you to get your hands dirty with a bottle, ha!”

Ren didn’t laugh, slowly and almost shakily pushing himself out from the seat.

_…It makes sense now. They’re… distracting me for some reason. But for what?_

The voice in his inner thoughts slowly distorted itself, a low baritone echoing off the sides of his head and overpowering any other thought.

_Shouldn’t you realize, mortal?_

All of his friends froze, the clock at the corner of the bar coming to a complete stop. Just like when time halted during his first experience of the Metaverse upon gaining the Meta-Nav application. His vision began to blur, causing him to go lightheaded and shut his eyes, taking deep and rapid breaths.

“Eyes up here,” the voice now sounded clearer as if there was now another person in front of him.

It wasn’t a person. It was the same enormous mechanical, angel-like monster that towered over Akechi in his first encounter with the false deity—Yaldabaoth. Funnily enough, Ren slowly began to realize his surroundings had changed just as Akechi had.

The creature extended one of its arms with a morbid grin, greeting his little servant condescendingly, “I see you are living finely the life of an ordinary teenager, hmhm…”

“Y-Yaldabaoth?!” Ren’s face was an awkward mix of fear and belligerence, standing up against the creature who still towered over his poor pawn, “Explain to me what happened! I don’t remember much, but what I do recall correctly is that I woke up in reality with the Metaverse Navigator is gone.”

It took a second before the false god of control tilted his head back and bellowed a deafening laugh from the bottom of his lungs, “Ahaha… ahahaha! You really don’t understand, do you? How shameful for someone who I saw so much potential in…” after his fit of laughter, he stared down menacingly at his willing teenaged servant, “You have _lost_ the game. It seems playing puppet enforcer and turning against your pesky little friends went against the rebellious will that earned you said powers…”

 _So, it’s true._ Ren bit his lip, removing his glasses as there was nobody around to see such a twisted look that now etched itself on his mien. He felt his heart rate increase as he barked up at the mischievous immortal he formed a pact with, “ _You_ were the one to give me those powers, so just give them back if you want me to fulfill my end of our deal!”

“You lost your powers because you injured your friend, but I refuse to give them back because you repulsed my order to kill the boy,” Yaldabaoth explained, knowing good and well that he was getting under his former puppet enforcer’s skin, “And besides, I do not have the ability to regain your powers anymore…”

“You’re a god.”

Yaldabaoth crossed two of his arms and looked heavenward at the endless sea of clouds, “Even if I went out of my way to enforce your powers to you again, it would only contradict a distortion that has finally reached an apotheosis…”

The word “distortion” was all it took for Ren to feel his body clam up, and his already fair skin to somehow whiten even more. “My… dis…tortion?”

Though spoken low enough as an effort to secrete his newborn fears, the creature he was conversing with was still a god. He did know the boy inside and out during his servitude as his accomplice. The god merely chuckled, “Hmhmhm… I don’t need to explain further, do I?”

“N-No…” Ren breathed gaspingly, his chest beginning to pound rapidly, “By saying my ‘distortion’ has reached a peak, are you suggesting that I have a… palace?”

“Aha… _ahahahahaha_!” Yaldabaoth broke from his formality and apathy, a baleful guffaw rumbling the cliff Ren was now keeled over on, “Ren Amamiya… Hmph, I would have never expected a mere mortal to bring such an entertaining show before my eyes. You have a palace which materialized into a large theatre… and your dear friends are almost at the structure’s apogee, where your shadow self instructed to meet him at…”

Ren slowly shook his head, backing away and the shakes becoming more unhinged, “N-No… why would you tell me any of this…?!”

The thought of him having a palace… he humored it near the beginning of his discovery of the Metaverse, but now that it was established and ultimately the death of him…

He felt disgusted with himself.

Yaldabaoth observed the normally stoic, levelheaded boy’s display of turbulence a little longer before answering to another rude beckon, “I inform you all of this because your demise severely hinders my activity…”

“W-What the hell are you talking about?” Ren’s jaw clenched, trying his best to stand well-postured.

“Our deal? Or has your new contortion gotten the better of you?” the god leered, “Our souls are tethered now. That was one of my conditions. In the end, your death or even a change of heart would most definitely lead to my existence’s erasure, and society would no longer be bound by our chains.”

“You did _what_?” Ren’s forehead crinkled with disdain, “I never agreed to that.”

 _No, that’s not what I need to focus on…_ Surprisingly he regained his cool as soon he slid back on his glasses over the bridge of his nose, straightening out the wrinkles of his blazer and staring off in deep thought. _I don’t need to end my life to reform society, the Phantom Thieves just need to take whatever the hell my Treasure is._

“No!” Ren blurted out. He remembered what those changes of hearts did to the palace rulers they targeted, and how the Phantom Thieves turned them into nothing less of empty husks of their former selves, subject to Yaldabaoth’s control. He didn’t want to die nor have a change of heart, and the keen god before him could tell that his bespectacled pawn had reached an ultimatum.

“I take it you realize how the destruction of your palace affects you? Then let us form one more de—”

Ren gnashed his teeth, flecks of spit spurting as he opened his mouth wide to shout against the misleading god who was now his puppeteer, “No more of your goddamned deals…! Separate us _now_ , and get rid of my palace.”

“Imbecile! The fact that you are aware of such an existence fermenting in your own distorted desires is all it takes for its security level to sprite new challenges for the group attempting to destroy it,” Yaldabaoth reminded the boy that his simple self-awareness was enough to make the palace more challenging for the Phantom Thieves to traverse, “I believe I will now take control within it… Farewell, my puppet; don’t you dare try anything funny…”

Yaldabaoth disappeared within the blink of an eye, Ren’s vision slowly fogging up. It was so easy for him to save his former friends, even if he couldn’t interfere with the Metaverse anymore, but he was afraid. He was petrified of dying, and honestly much more of the more believable possibility that he would undergo a change of heart.

By the end of his frightened thoughts, Ren was back in reality in the Crossroads bar. Mishima, Shinya, Ohya, Chihaya, Hifumi, and Iwai were staring at him worriedly. Even Lala, who had returned from the back, was troubled by his absence.

“U-Um… Ren-kun?” Hifumi quietly whispered after noticing Ren’s eyes no longer glossed over.

Ren stood up from his seat and shook his head, clutching it as Yaldabaoth’s threats still rang within the walls of his mind. He awkwardly shoved himself past the beautiful shogi player, “I apologize… I’m not feeling too well.”

“H-Hold on a sec!” Mishima jumped from his seat, now obviously panicky and blocking off the entrance, “You can’t…! I won’t let you hurt the Phantom Thieves!”

Immediately Mishima covered his mouth, absolutely terrified by the knowing glare Ren was shooting down at him. The rest of the bar went silent.

“D-Dammit Mishima!” Shinya’s voice trembled as he tried to curse out the boy who had a slip of tongue.

“Phantom ‘Thieves’…?” Ren now hovered above Mishima against the wall, causing the meek boy to cower with his arms up over his terrified face.

Mishima shook his head, “N-No, sorry, t-the alcohol…! I’m drunk right now!”

Even Ohya cringed by the boy’s attempt at covering up the now plain lie, growling under her breath, “Tch, you were too pussy to even touch a light beer…”

Ren had already expected as much after his encounter with Yaldabaoth. Discovering he had a palace was the peak of his shock, instead backing off from the timid boy and exiting the bar. He felt betrayed, and even his friends uninvolved with the Metaverse were toying with him.

The boy made a run for it, breaking for the Shinjuku train station before collapsing onto the rough concrete of the sidewalk, wheezing. His glasses fell off his face, though surprisingly not cracking against its impact on the ground. He wanted to get up, but the weight of apathy unmotivated him from doing so, his head thrashing back against the ground when he tried to lift it up. It was nighttime now, and the snow was only worsening, and yet Ren hadn’t the motivation to stand up on his own two feet.

A great tremor overcame Ren’s frame as he tried to fight back tears. No passerby bothered to help him to his feet, and not even his so-called friends were making any attempt at approaching them.

 _They don’t care. Nobody does, they only care about Joker, and he’s gone…_ His itchy eyes began to well with tears, at first a few pouring down against the pavement, melting the snow. Quiet sobs then worsened into gut-wrenching cries that tore through his chest in a grand onslaught.

_I’ll… I’ll show them hell!_

Ren had succumbed to acedia, his distortions the only thing left fueling the exhausted young man. All he could protect now was his palace, the mere awareness that such a thing existed within him greatly spiking the security measures. He had to kill the Phantom Thieves, and especially Akechi who had “unjustly” taken his place for his own journey of redemption.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, the group is forced to flee when Ren's palace distortion levels spike drastically after Futaba's plan backfires with the influence of Yaldabaoth. Because of this, however, they realize that defeating Ren will ultimately be a shortcut in taking down Yaldabaoth and the rest of the Metaverse, but things won't be as simple as they expect.
> 
> // next chapter will be up saturday, august 4th. srry for not responding much, I'm hella busy trying to get things ready for school which starts two weeks from today. Like always, thanks for the support, every comment and kudo really does means a lot!


	9. Watching the Curtains Rise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The more Futaba's plan begins to backfire, the more perilous Ren's palace becomes, the group eventually having to evaluate during fighting Shadow Shido for a second time due to the endlessly spawning shadows. With nowhere else to go without risking another ambush, the group reluctantly ventures to the eighth and final floor to face Shadow Ren.

Contrasting Ren’s slow, quiet fall into despair, the Phantom Thieves were more than courageous while fighting off cognitive Shadow Shido, especially Akechi who was particularly eager to knock him down. However, as Shadow Shido transformed into his second form, Samael, that was also the time that Ren’s realization of his own palace greatly affected the battlefield.

“Fox, here’s to help your health…! Skull!! Get back up! Oh no… no! Final Guard!”

Futaba gave it her all supporting the Thieves, but became quickly overwhelmed by the escalating distortion levels. Somehow, for some reason unknown to them at the occurrence, the readings shot from a mild thirty percent to a hundred. With Samael still sentient, the Phantom Thieves were surrounded by a whole horde of shadows which had arrived from black mist.

Yusuke, who had nearly been impaled by one of the first shadows he decided to spar against, hesitantly sheathed his katana, “This situation isn’t multifaceted… We’re outnumbered, and the masses still seem to be increasing.”

“This hasn’t happened in any of the palaces before… not even my sister’s,” Makoto couldn’t believe her eyes at how many were appearing just in one phase.

Akechi simply stared awestruck as what seemed to be the final out of a dozen shadows surfaced, stepping back and pressing against the backs of the rest of the Thieves who decided to stick together. His head naturally jerked up to Futaba, who was in Prometheus, “Hey! Oracle, where are all of these shadows coming from?! Did the plan… fail?”

Futaba’s voice once again echoed from her Persona, muttering before deciding to answer, “I… I guess. That first row in front of you seems to be a row of Seth, demons of the Tower Arcana! They’re weak to bless, but we don’t have anyone who can—”

“Ake—Crow, that was your Thief name, correct?” Lavenza delicately interrupted Futaba, looking up at the boy distressfully, “…You seem to have a Persona of the Justice Arcana that can defeat them. Remember what I taught you?”

At first Akechi stared blankly down at the young lady, perhaps flustered by the situation in the moment, but then he remembered exactly what she was talking about.

“…I understand,” Akechi nodded, ripping his mask right off his face by its beak, “Throne!”

Loki behind him disappeared into the blue flames and chains behind the detective as he removed his mask, a purple-cloaked figure within a constantly burning ring answering to Akechi’s call.

During their escapade in their former leader and friend’s palace, Lavenza took the opportunity while Ren was still distracted to properly teach him the Wild Card’s abilities, something Yaldabaoth never did when he left Akechi alone with his new powers all those years ago. Akechi was stronger now, now being able to fuse Personas and negotiate with shadows at will thanks to the mentorship of his Velvet Room attendant.

“Throne,” Akechi slipped back on his mask and pointed at the raging row of shadows before him, “Makougaon!”

All of them were knocked out, giving Akechi’s team of him, Morgana, Makoto, and Yusuke the chance to wipe them out permanently in an all-out attack.

“This’ll be a massacre! Throne!”

“Show your might, Mercurius!”

“Kamu Susano-o, strike them!”

“Anat, come!”

As each of their attacks connected, the first row was reduced to nothing less of blood and more of the ominous black vapor.

“Next row, Siegfried, demons of the Strength Arcana! Weak to nuclear, go Queen!” Futaba called out again, trying her best to multitask accordingly between healing her teammates below and identifying new shadows.

Ann and Ryuji switched positions with Morgana and Yusuke to aid Akechi and Makoto instead. Morgana and Yusuke joined with Haru and Lavenza, who was in the process of distracting and chipping away at Samael’s health. She wanted to greet the two who filled in for the two founders, but regular discourse was objectively prohibited in such a strange, risky situation as the one they were in.

“ _Michael_!” Akechi switched again, now getting used to handling multiple Personas, “Cosmic Flare!”

After the row of Siegfried were knocked down by the new team, Futaba announced a third of Quetzalcoatl, demons of the Sun Arcana who were weak to psychic attacks.

So naturally, without Haru, Akechi switched again. He held his mask high, shouting, “Parvati, Mapsiodyne!”

This earned the group another all-out attack as the demons keeled over.

“Let’s scatter! Parvati!”

“Seiten Taisei, let’s tear ‘em apart!”

“Do it with style, Hecate!”

“Let’s wipe them out again, Anat!”

The cycle continued to repeat itself. While Akechi was certainly glad that he was able to get very much used to his duties as a Wild Card, something about the incessant shadows which had formed significantly bothered him as well as the others, who were quickly getting tired. After about maybe the sixth mass of shadows, he turned around to look at the other group currently fending off Samael.

“Mona, Fox, Noir, Lavenza!” Akechi called out from behind while at the same time fighting another group of shadows which manifested, “Is that bastard almost dead yet…?!”

Of course, “that bastard” was merely a cognition, but the others feared having Akechi fight him would cause the boy to go into a crazed frenzy, something he didn’t object with at all. However, hearing the groans of the current group trying their best to defeat him almost made him want to lend a hand.

“ _N-Ngh…_ I can still keep going, b-but—”

Haru was cut off by the monstrous barbarian’s attack, Yusuke decided to answer on her behalf after summoning his Persona once more, “Judging by the slight cooldown of his attacks, I would like to say we chipped a good bit of his strength away.”

Meanwhile, Futaba was greatly troubled despite supporting the group outside of combat, trying her best to both uncover the mystery behind the sudden burst of the palace’s danger levels and replenishing anyone who was suffering fatigue, as well as broadcasting the occasional buff. It was only after the shadows were multiplying faster than any of them could take them down that Futaba spoke again.

“You guys, there’s no stopping this,” her voice reverberated, “Saying we’re outnumbered is a pretty damn big understatement; I’m gonna try and bypass the next floor’s barricade and open up an escape route!”

“A-An escape route? Is that how bad our situation is?” Ann was shocked, only now realizing all the time that had passed and all of the shadows they had fought.

“It would seem so… Look out!” Akechi couldn’t even make time to breath properly, immediately coming to Ann’s aid and cutting down another shadow.

Ryuji stumbled back as a shadow nearly emerged right underneath his feet, falling to the ground and dropping his crowbar, “W-Woah! Just what the eff is causing our leader’s palace to go all batshit crazy like that?!”

Makoto bit her lip, vexed that she couldn’t find any answer of her own to give to the boy, “I don’t know at all… Oracle—”

A loud _click_ stopped Makoto as she looked over to the direction it came from. The stairs were now available, presumably because of Futaba.

Just as the girl thought, the group navigator altered the palace to grant a sturdy escape route, “I’ll explain everything when we get to the top!” It was then that Futaba withdrew Prometheus and dashed past the shadows and up the stairs first, waving at the startled group to follow, “C’mon, quick!”

Now being chased down by Samael and the excess shadows which had grew in surplus, the Phantom Thieves successfully, though narrowly, escaped the seventh auditorium and into the safe room above.

Bursting right through the doors to the concession stand safe room, Futaba threw herself down against a stack of boxes presumably with cognitive snacks, though nothing they could consume. The rest entered like flies drawn to honey, collapsing in various places in the small storage room just as their navigator had.

“J-Just… what was that strange occurrence…?” Yusuke threw down his kitsune mask and patted down the sweat underneath his deep blue fringe.

“What I said earlier is now confirmed. Something happened to Ren in the real world which somehow caused him to be extremely wary of us,” Futaba recalled her previous statement in the midst of their strenuous battle, “Normally I would think that he caught on to something fishy seeing all of his friends suddenly pop up, or that plebian Mishima spilled the beans.”

“Y-Yeah, I guess, but,” Ryuji trailed off for a second, trying to both regain his breath and form a coherent opinion, “Even when we purposely send the palace rulers a warning, like in our calling cards, _this_ never happened. This shit’s way too crazy!”

Makoto rebuked, “But any time we send a calling card, we’re close to the treasure room anyway. We’ve never physically seen whatever many shadows popped up in the previous rooms.”

Futaba slowly shook her head and sighed, “Sorry Makoto. Unfortunately, he’s right, this is different. The palaces before on the days after we deliver the calling card always have a steady reading of the max percentage its distortion levels can extend to, a hundred. This time, though, the readings were going berserk! Like… like it was trying to surpass a hundred, but couldn’t.”

“My word!” Yusuke gasped, “What on earth could’ve happened to Ren out there?”

“Yaldabaoth…”

Naturally, everyone’s eyes rested curiously on the knowing Velvet Room attendant who had quite the habit of trailing off into space. When she realized the prying eyes staring down at her, she snapped out of her daze and began to elaborate.

“Yaldabaoth endowed the Trickster servanthood,” Lavenza fumbled with her grimoire, “What would stop that foul savage from using his direct link with him to inform him of his own palace? To purposefully make things challenging for us?”

Ryuji slammed his hands against the table and shot up, “That bastard! He doesn’t give a shit about Ren, so why would he go off to warn him about somethin’ that big?!”

A peculiar flash of anger etched itself of Lavenza’s face for a split second before resting back on its normal stoic composure. However, Akechi could still spot her free hand clenched in a twitched fist. Lavenza’s eyes flared with irritation at Ryuji, though not at all directed at him, “…I don’t have any other clue other than the idea that he simply wishes to see his puppet suffer. Being told the mortifying validation of one’s own distortions with the existence of a palace within oneself isn’t exactly something that would leave them uncaring or calm.”

“But why?! Dammit, ain’t Ren doin’ exactly what Yaldabaoth can’t by directly controlling society or some shit? Why would that bastard torment the one person who can do his work?!” Ryuji tried his best to come up with an idea, repeatedly slapping himself in the head with his palm.

Once again, Akechi’s hand naturally curled itself around his chin when he retreated into his thoughts. Though not an “ace” detective at heart, the boy was still witty and motivated enough to grow into one eventually. He shut his eyes and shook his head as each thought was cancelled out by another.

That was until a strong theory surfaced.

He shot up as well, though not as recklessly as Ryuji had. He cleared his throat and spoke sonorously, “That’s it! Yaldabaoth didn’t pull such a risky move simply to see the one person of value to him suffer. He did it because there’s some sort of risk in it for him if we see through a change of heart in Ren, or worst-case scenario, death.”

The group was quiet at first, but Ann was the first one to realize what Akechi was alluding to. The girl’s blue eyes bugged out even wider, “…Are you trying to say that this ‘direct link’ or whatever could be something bigger? Like… Ren having a change of heart or dying could also weaken Yaldabaoth’s power?!”

“N-No way! Like some v-voodoo shit?! Nuh-uh, that’s freaky as hell!” Ryuji shuddered, crossing his arms in front of him and jerking them away as he frantically shook his head as if an attempt to shake Ann’s words out of his ears.

Yusuke lowered his head and tented his fingers, “Actually, that could very well be the case. As a part of their deal, Yaldabaoth could have granted much of his own immortal strength to Ren which would explain the sudden increase in power during our fight against him. After all, even for Ren, it’d be rather difficult for one person to subsist twenty-four hours, seven days a week in Mementos. Safe rooms are only a temporary option, after all.”

“…That, or Yaldabaoth is inside of Ren.”

“W-What?! Like, possession?” Makoto looked horrified as Akechi so calmly proposed the idea.

Akechi nodded. Though he was calm on the outside, on the inside he almost wished he hadn’t given the mere thought a voice, “Think about it. Why would Yaldabaoth rely on Ren to do his dirty work in reality? Tokyo isn’t fused with the depths anymore, so naturally he has no way to appear in the real world without that crutch. How could Yaldabaoth warn Ren in that circumstance without being in the Metaverse other than telling him in his own head? Not only does the idea cover those justifications, but it also explains Yusuke’s.”

“B-Bullshit!” Ryuji made a desperate attempt to nullify Akechi’s idea, “You take that shit back right now!”

Morgana whimpered, “I… I don’t wanna believe it, but he has a point. It would explain… everything, really.”

“Ren-san…” Haru covered her face as Morgana sided with Akechi.

“Ugh…” Ryuji didn’t have the room nor evidence to argue back against the detective, slowly lowering his body back down into his seat, “Fine. Where the hell do we even go, anyway?”

“Upstairs, of course… We’ve beat ‘em all. Asmodeus Kamoshida, Azazel Madarame, Bael Kaneshiro, Sphinx mom, Mammon Okumura, and Leviathan Niijima. I guess not Samael Shido, but whatever, we got past ‘im,” Futaba shrugged.

Haru’s voice cracked, “But upstairs… Upstairs is…”

“Ren’s cocky shadow self,” Ryuji gave a sarcastic chuckle to hide his nerves, “Or Joker, rather.”

“The treasure’s up there too,” Morgana added dourly, “I can feel it, there’s nowhere left ahead…”

The room was silent. They knew where they had to go, and the treasure was awaiting them one flight of stairs away, but they knew it wouldn’t nearly be so easy. They had to change the heart of their former leader which would inevitably leave him in the same fate as the rest of the palace rulers who had lost their sense of self. The Ren they knew would be dead either way, and that was only the bare minimum of the fight. If Akechi was correct, after all, they would have to face Yaldabaoth eventually upon entering. But if they shirked back now…

Akechi felt his stomach churn by the possibility, but didn’t cower. He stood up and turned to face the door leading to the final concession area before the eighth auditorium, “We didn’t go this far for nothing. Dammit, are we gonna let this whole world be enslaved just because our emotions towards some attic trash?!”

Ryuji’s teeth thrashed together in fury, his voice booming maliciously towards the boy, “Hey, what the hell’d you call him?! He’s our friend, you asshole!”

Akechi tilted his head back only slightly, “…I said _our_ emotions, didn’t I? He… means a lot to me more than you think now, especially on a personal level after witnessing all of his true thoughts.”

Ryuji opened his mouth to litigate, but no words came out.

Akechi fully turned his head, not only facing Ryuji but now the entirety of the remaining Phantom Thieves. His face was filled with anguish seeing the rest’s filled with enmity, but he pushed the words out, “I’m not doing this to win over your precious judgement… I’m doing this to save Ren. If you all want to neglect your motives for even reaching this far now, I’ll gladly do the rest alone.”

Before any of the group could give their thoughts a voice, Akechi’s footsteps got quieter and quieter as he dashed out of the room to presumably meet with Shadow Ren at the top.

“Akechi! Wait!” Ann shot out of her seat and leaned forward to the now swinging door. She chased after the boy, but not before shooting Ryuji a dirty look.

One after one, the group left the safe room to pursue the next person who left. After Ryuji reluctantly followed last on the order of Morgana, the safe room was completely barren.

Ann was the first to reach Akechi, resting her hand on his shoulder and standing on the tips of her toes to reach his ear, “Hey! You weren’t seriously gonna go off without us, were you? That’s _suicide_!”

They were almost at the top of the stairs leading to where Shadow Ren was awaiting. Akechi was caught off guard by the sudden approach of the young model, “Panther? But why would you come after me? I told you I don’t need to win over any redemption from the likes of you all anymore.”

“Idiot, we can’t do this if we’re not all together! We need you more than ever, and I think you’ve long since earned your redemption before you stopped caring about it. You’re not alone anymore,” she wrapped her arms around Akechi’s to get him to come to a stop.

Akechi’s face flushed, now paying his attention to the girl’s pleas. He looked down and the two stared right at each other, causing Ann to let go and look away quickly when she realized what she was doing.

“S-Sorry… I think we’re all getting sorta emotional at this point,” she went on to excuse herself.

“Verily so,” A calm, low voice answered from behind, causing Ann to jump, “The person who saved us all from our initial problem and united us is our final foe. A friend.”

Ann and Akechi peered back and saw Yusuke a few steps below. Following him came Futaba, Lavenza, Makoto, Haru, Morgana, and finally Ryuji.

“You guys… came? After I dismissed you all so harshly?” Even Akechi found himself taken aback by the surprising act of forgiveness.

“Crow, you dumbass!” Futaba barked, “Quit acting all edgy! Edgy Akechi! Like ya or hate ya, we’re all in the same boat.”

Haru shook her hands in the air in front of her, “A-Ah! I believe what Oracle’s trying to say is… is that now, it’s far too late to split up. This is our final battle, and our hardest. We must put in our all to help put an end to the Metaverse, and save Ren from that evil god controlling him.”

“Y-Yeah…” Ryuji scratched the back of his neck, uncomfortably leveling his hoarse voice to a gentle tone, “Sorry man. You said it yourself that you intended to pay for your crimes anyway with jail time. It’d be pretty sucky if you did all this just for us to still hate you ‘n shit. We got your back.”

“We’ve become stronger people because of our obstacles, including you,” Makoto shut her eyes and smiled, “If Sis accepts you, I should find it in my heart to do so as well.”

Lavenza nodded, “You are the only one whose powers rivals that of the former Trickster’s. Only you can truly put an end to this unwarranted chaos.”

Akechi nearly felt his eyes water up. _What is this feeling…? Why am I—_ Before he could finish his thought, he felt a sob elicit from the kind words of the group.

“C’mon man…! H-Hey!” Ryuji grimaced, “Don’t cry like that! Seriously, disturbing as hell.”

Ann, who was closest to Akechi both literally and emotionally, rubbed his back. She crooned, “There there… Save the tears for later. I have a feeling we’ll all be crying sooner or later, together…”

Akechi could practically hear the knot in the girl’s throat forming as she trailed off into the thoughts of what awaited them. The rest of the group shot each other worrying glances.

Morgana hopped shoulder to shoulder from Ryuji’s to Akechi’s, turning his back around to face everyone else. He shouted motivationally, “Hey! We’re the Phantom Thieves, we all gotta be our strongest for this fight! No matter what happens, it all ends with the Metaverse’s collapse if we emerge victorious. Whatever Ren’s fate may be after this, I know that deep down _this_ is what he wants! He saved us from our messes, it’d be downright selfish for us to run away from fixing his!”

Ann sniffled, wiping her tears away and shuddering, “Yeah… yeah, you’re right! We’re here to save Ren out of love, not out of hatred! If fighting is what it takes, so be it!”

The rest of the group took a few minutes to recompose their spirits. It only took around two for the Phantom Thieves to be fully eager to meet Shadow Ren, despite whatever may occur. Giving Akechi the signal, the boy turned around, took a deep breath, and pushed open the double doors leading to the final auditorium.

The auditorium was filled to the brim, unlike the previous ones. There were more lights, more banners anticipating whatever “show” Shadow Ren was talking about. Sans the few differences, the rest of the room was exactly similar to the others they were in, only naturally lacking a set of stairs up. This was the final room in Ren’s palace.

An indoor marquee adorned with the twin theater masks as ornaments greeted the group. Yusuke read off the words, “‘The Final Heist – Fall of the Phantom Thieves’.”

“Yeah right,” Ryuji scoffed, cracking his knuckles.

Akechi mustered his voice from the very bottom of his lungs, “…We’re here, you damned shadow! Come on out and fulfill your end of the deal, that is, unless you wish to die behind the curtains!”

Such a dramatic threat prompted the attention of the rest of the cognitive audience to the back of the room at Akechi and the others. Without a fight, the curtains at the very front rose, revealing only the sole shadow dressed as Joker who was leering right at them with intrigue rather than anger like the other palace rulers. He yelled cacophonously, “If it isn’t the Phantom Thieves, Akechi, and the little Velvet Room doll, alive and absolutely, beautifully enraged! I do wonder who God shall side with in this final act…”

“Enough with the bullshit, man! We’re here to save Ren, and doin’ so means kicking your ass!” Ryuji bellowed from across the room, “Wanna do this the easy way and come down here, or the hard way where we kick your ass in front of all these brainless shadows? Huh?!”

“Oh, ‘save’ Ren?” The shadow gulped back a cackle to contain himself, though his eyes were wild with frenzy, “Poor, poor fools… Ren is too far gone to merely be saved by defeating me and claiming his treasure,” he adjusted his mask, “Don’t you get it? Yaldabaoth had made it where he and I were one of the same to give him the power to serve him. You faced me before in the depths, don’t you remember? He and I are the same, I am just the humanized form of his former powers as Joker. Whatever happens to me will happen to him in the real world as a result.”

“This is sure as hell starting to hurt my head…” Futaba moaned, overwhelmed by the immense, yet vague amount of description the shadow was explaining.

Yusuke drew out his katana, “He is bluffing, I’m sure of it. Let’s commence and end this quickly before that dirty god catches on and interferes!” Just like that, Yusuke was the first to run up to the stage and take on Shadow Ren, causing the others to panic.

“H-Holy shit, dude, no! Remember last time! Hey, Fox!” Ryuji slumped his shoulders and gave up, summoning his Persona and quickly backing the carried away artist up the ramp to the stage.

“For a final battle, we sure are being rash as usual in our tactics,” Haru shook her head and smiled faintly.

Makoto grabbed her fellow senior’s arm and rushed up the ramp, “That’s the charm of the Phantom Thieves, Noir! C’mon, let’s make this count!”

The others caught up to Shadow Ren, fighting him just as they did back in Mementos. The only difference now, however, was that he was only fighting with his twin daggers.

Morgana recoiled from a slash in his blind spot, “ _Ngh_ , s-someone…!” he groaned.

“Mona!” Makoto summoned Anat and kneeled over to heal the cat-like creature who substituted for group leader along with Akechi.

Morgana smirked, puffing out his chest haughtily, “H-Heh! Don’t you worry a bit, Queen! This fight’s gonna be a cakewalk. Y’know why?”

Makoto turned her head and observed Shadow Ren fending off Yusuke and Ann with only his daggers, quickly catching on and bobbing her head, “Yeah… He’s not using a Persona… Any of them, now that I think about it. What’s up?”

After Anat finished the Diarahan spell, Morgana hopped back up on his feet with his oversized saber, “Exactly. Without his Personas, the only challenge now is trying to best his melee skill.”

Morgana rushed to join the group’s ambush on the palace ruler, but Makoto wasn’t as convinced the fight was going to be as easy as he said.

Suddenly the shadow began to twitch with the same glitchy affect Sae’s shadow had displayed before fighting her. The others jumped back disconcertedly at the small, yet significant effect.

She bit her lip when it hit her, “H-Hold on, Mona! He’s gonna change into a shadow!”

“Huh?!”

“She’s right,” Akechi nudged the cat back and passively discerned Ren’s shadow beginning to “glitch” more and more, “This is exactly what happened to Shadow Sae when she was holding back. We’re in for more than you expect, calling this a ‘cakewalk’.”

Ann fumbled with the handle of her whip, eyebrows upturned, “I wonder what it’s gonna be…”

As Shadow Ren tried to make his strike, he keeled over, dropping his daggers. The demon trying to superimpose over itself over his base form was, at first, indistinguishable, but as the effect became longer and more frequent until finally settling with a deafening roar, the group easily recognized the figure that had taken place.

“It’s…” Akechi opened his eyes, removing his arms from over his face, “Arsene… Naturally,” he summoned Loki’s name under his breath, the Persona manifesting from ghastly blue fire and chains.

“Well, at the very least he can’t pull a bait-and-switch with his Personas anymore and knock us down,” Ryuji shrugged, returning his crowbar firmly to his hands.

Yusuke twitched, his mind calling back to the time he nearly was burned alive from one of Ren’s attacks, “T-That’s certainly relieving.”

Morgana’s eyes bugged, “H-Hold on! The treasure just… vanished!”

Yusuke and Ryuji stopped, looking back at Morgana, “What?!”

Shadow Ren, now Arsene, attacked the two boys with a Maeigaon spell, engulfing them in darkness and cursing the two.

Morgana’s ears drooped down with guilt after accidentally throwing the two off guard, “S-Sorry… I’ll explain after. Mercurius, Garudyne!”

Arsene avoided the flurry of wind, summoning a wispily transparent gun and striking all nine of the Phantom Thieves with the seemingly endless magazine.

“Riot Gun…” Futaba identified the attack, barely able to avoid it. She had been busy analyzing the shadow, finishing rather quickly having observed it before. She rose a brow within Necronomicon as she discovered weaknesses, “Everyone! The shadow is weak to ice and bless skills!”

Normally, the group would be relieved to hear the weaknesses being found in the shadow they were fighting, but the fact that a palace ruler’s true form had a weakness unnerved them.

Yusuke and Akechi, who both had Personas who could knock down Arsene, and Lavenza, whose grimoire allowed her to access almost every skill type, looked up at Futaba’s Persona oddly.

“What do you mean, navigator?” Lavenza looked almost distraught, “A palace ruler typically negates all weaknesses. Are you certain your analysis is valid?”

Futaba groaned at the presumptuousness of the little attendant to question her ability, “Uh, yeah. It doesn’t even have Null Ice or Null Bless to pull any nasty lil’ tricks. He’s as good as gone if you strike him now with one of those skills.”

“This is… strange,” Regardless, Yusuke withdrew Kamu Susano-o and stared dead at Arsene’s faceless head, “But it’s better to finish quickly while we’re still motivated than to hesitate and falter instead… Kamu Susano-o, Diamond Dust!”

Yusuke decided to hit the creature with a severe attack to ensure it wouldn’t miss, Arsene falling to the ground on its knee-like structures. This gave the nine an easy opening to perform an ultimate all-out attack together.

But something felt off.

“W-Well,” Ann laughed sheepishly, summoning Hecate, “I guess this is it.”

Yusuke added, “This is… oddly anticlimactic.”

“ _Too_ anticlimactic. We have to take our chances either way, though,” Makoto called forth Anat.

Everyone else save for Akechi summoned their Personas, almost wishing for more to happen. Akechi stared intensely at the red-and-black demon.

_H-Help…_

Just before Akechi could remove his mask to call upon Loki to commence the attack, his ears shot up to a foreign voice ringing in his head.

_Akechi… No, Goro. I-It’s a trap…! Take the t-treasure, and r-run!_

It was Ren. Not Arsene, and not Shadow Ren with the malicious reverb in his tone. It was Ren’s natural voice in a soft, defeated husk. Without bothering to question the possibility, Akechi blurted out to everyone, “S-Stop! Not yet! I heard him, the real Ren!”

Nobody pulled back their Personas, but nobody attacked either. Instead, they looked cluelessly at Akechi whose face was almost pale with horror.

“You heard… _the_ Ren?” Ann whispered, deeply wanting such an occurrence to be possible.

_If you defeat me—Arsene, my shadow self… Yaldabaoth will k-know of such a drastic change and c-come… That's why defeating him was so easy._

Akechi felt disgusted by the submissive tone Ren now took on. To not look crazy, he responded to Ren within himself rather than further worrying the others by asking aloud.

 _Why? What the hell are you going on about, you worthless vermin?_ Akechi tried to feign strength and hostility. _So that means its true? You relinquished your own independence to serve Yaldabaoth in controlling the public’s subconscious? Why? None of this makes sense, and frankly, it makes me sick how easily you would rid something I would gladly cherish had I as amiable a personality as you._

_I know… I was selfish, and formed a deal on impulse with him. I didn’t want this to end… I could be myself as Joker. The public practically worshipped the Phantom Thieves until that bastard Shido came into play. All it took was that one deal to earn that power back. The public still sadly defends Shido, but I have more control than he ever did…_

Akechi’s face grew hot as Ren’s dark thoughts unraveled before him—rather, within him—feeling his eyes beginning to swell. _That doesn’t answer my question, that just adds more of them. I already know everything about you because of your palace and what your cocky little shadow said at the entrance. Tell me straightforward why you found nothing wrong with siding with Yaldabaoth and abandoning your friends in the cells of Mementos. Do it or I’ll end you here and now, seeing as you’re well beyond saving through any change of heart._

It took a few moments for Ren to respond, which felt like eons to Akechi. However, when he did, it was brief but almost unsettling.

_Why did you side with someone as blatantly sick as Shido? It’s because you were a nobody before relinquishing your fate to be mended by his hands. Even if it meant doing something as morally twisted as causing those psychotic breakdowns, his position earned you fans. A purpose. An identity._

Akechi grimaced, his sadness quickly divulging into a deeper sense of outrage. _Don’t you dare remind me of that again, let alone compare it to you!_

 _It’s true… but its in the past now._ Ren seemed eager to change the subject, having heard the hostility rising in Akechi’s tone. _The point is, I regret it. I lost everything now as a result. I want you all to end this, but not by killing me here. Do it in the real world, after you escape with the treasure. Killing me here will only prolong, or even completely prevent this from all being reversed. It’s true, my existence is now tethered with Yaldabaoth’s. I’m unsure if killing me in reality will end Yaldabaoth’s existence entirely, but it will definitely weaken the possibility of distortions and the Metaverse._

 _…No._ Akechi gently declined. _I’ve made up my mind. We’ll defeat Arsene and your shadow self to purposely trigger Yaldabaoth’s coming. We’ll defeat him here for good to ensure that the Metaverse is ended so none of this bullshit ever happens again…!_

_Akechi—!_

“This is for you,” Akechi spoke aloud his final answer passionately, raising his sword and summoning Loki, “I’ll grant you a swift death, and give it meaning by serving as the shortcut to the Metaverse’s destruction!”

“So, we ready?” Ryuji was surprisingly patient, cocking his head once towards the still fallen Arsene.

Akechi nodded, “Yeah. My apologies, I had to prepare myself mentally. I’m ready now, and we’re doing this for Ren’s sake. Everyone!”

“Quiver in fear!” Morgana meowed one of his lines, “This is for you, leader!”

“I’m on it! It’s time to finish what we’ve started, Renren!” Ryuji called out.

“Let’s finish this!” Ann shouted, “Ren… thank you for all you’ve done!”

“Everyone, with me!” Yusuke, who had the advantage in skill over Arsene, gestured everyone to synchronize their attacks, “If it wasn’t for you, Ren… I’d still be blind to Madarame’s sick truth.”

“We can end this right now! Ren, you’ve helped awaken this side of me, so I’ll do this for you!” Makoto threw down her mask gracefully.

Futaba’s voice echoed through Necronomicon, “Everyone, here come the buffs! Let’s make this one count, for Ren!”

“We can’t miss this chance!” Haru announced. She looked down at Arsene, “Ren, you helped me open my eyes to the harsh reality of this world.”

“You’re wide open… Get ready, here I go!” Lavenza called out. She lowered her grimoire for a second, face blood red with bashfulness, “…I love you, my trickster. You were truly the world’s greatest man… I will save you, here and now…!”

Akechi stared down at the still struggling demon which had assumed Shadow Ren’s base form, cocking his gun at the writhing Arsene, “Hmph. Checkmate, you idiot. I’m doing this to finish your original objective as a Phantom Thief.”

_…It means a lot, Goro. I wish everyone good luck cleaning up my mess._

Right after Akechi pored over the rest of what Ren’s deep subconscious had to say out of respect, he gave everyone the cue to attack. In one grand attack, Arsene began to flounder, writhing into itself back into the shadowy mist forming on the ground below. Shadow Ren’s normal form donning Joker laid in defeat in the demon’s place, panting intensely.

“Ren!” Ryuji called out as the shadow fell to his knees upon Arsene’s disappearance.

Everyone surrounded around Ren’s shadow, just as they had to Ren himself after Haru found his current Persona’s psychokinetic weakness.

“How disgustingly selfish I was…” Just as most palace rulers began following their defeat, Shadow Ren had begun to regret his actions and confess to the rest of the group.

“C’mon, man… it was all bottled up emotions, that’s all,” Ryuji’s voice trembled, causing him to look away and chuckle dolefully, “Heh, look at what you did, you’re making me… cry, man.”

Ann spluttered, smiling down at the one she saw through the original foundation of the Phantom Thieves with, “Y-Yeah! You did so much to help us all, even wanting to help reform society despite their hatred for us in the very end, that you neglected your own desires and need for help.”

“The treasure… It’s like its nearly within reach!” Morgana’s large blue eyes welled with a layer of tears, “But that’s not my concern right now… Ren, this can change! J-Just like Sae did, you could have a change of heart naturally. We don’t want to force it this time, we want you back just as before! We don’t want you to be reduced to a guilty shadow of your former self, we want you! A-And this time, maybe it could be the real you.”

“We’d accept you no matter who you were,” Futaba agreed, removing her goggles and exposing the tears streaming down her cheeks, “I mean it. It has to be suffocating switching between all of those roles you forced yourself to play for others. Remove those masks, Ren! Be yourself!”

“…You guys,” Shadow Ren’s voice was desolate of any emotion other than dread, “Even if I wanted to, it’s far too late. I gave my existence up to him, and I can feel his presence arriving closer by the second,” now his yellow, ominous eyes pierced right through Akechi’s with sincerity, “Kill me now. Subsequently, he should be removed as well. That should be the easy way out for all of this. Ridding me, ridding the Metaverse, and ridding the god who dictates that and the rest of society.”

“Kill him!” an audience member shouted from below.

The group looked down. The once filled auditorium was slowly becoming more deserted, those who remained damning Ren and his “performance”.

“Boooooo!” a kid threw his Joker-esque mask at the stage, enabling the other children in the room to do the same with their Joker merchandise.

“Listen to them,” Shadow Ren called back the attention of the other Phantom Thieves, resting his eyes, “Please… Isn’t this what you wanted back in the interrogation room, Akechi?”

“No!!” Akechi screamed, throwing down his sword and gun and sliding down on his knees to grab Shadow Ren by the shoulders, “That’s not what I want anymore, I’ve changed! I want to fix what ultimately Shido started and get rid of my identity as his accomplice! I’m going to save the world, and I have to save you as well. I’ll gladly take on Yaldabaoth face-to-face if it means not having to kill you Ren, you’ve been through enough of this _shit_!”

The room began to shake, the curtain, decorations, and seats falling over as if a passing train as driven right next to them. The lights swung violently from the ceiling, some smashing right through the grounding of the stage, though thankfully not any of the ten people on it. The other nine had no choice but to get down and hold their ears so not to fall over or lose their hearing as the tremor only intensified.

“It’s too late now…” Shadow Ren rasped as the others looked to him for an answer.

Akechi removed his finger he plugged in one of his ears, leaning closer to the fallen palace ruler, “Huh?!”

“Yaldabaoth is here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, Akechi and the others meet Yaldabaoth in person. Rather than fighting, they are forced to chase him down after he fuses Qlipoth with Ren's palace. A lot of interaction (and this is where some shipteasin takes palace hehehehe) leading up to the final stairs leading to Yaldabaoth.
> 
> // whew, I almost forgot to post today despite finishing the chapter a couple days earlier. there'll prolly be three more chapters including the next and then the fic is completely finished. as always, thank you all for your support, it only gets better from here!
> 
> EDIT: next chap on the 10th, this week's gonna be busy


	10. Climax of the Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the Phantom Thieves properly meet Yaldabaoth for the first time, but it's far from over. Forced to retreat after a surprisingly fatal wound inflicted by Lavenza, the others chase him down and find an abominable discover waiting for them outside of Ren's palace's entrance. Regarding Ren's fate in the real world, his shadow in the Metaverse reveals horrific news to the rest of the group, enticing them to hurry through.

Yaldabaoth was definitely nearing the final auditorium at the peak of the Theatre of Acedia. The ground tremored violently a little while longer following Shadow Ren’s heed until finally subsided. Amongst the rubble in the now destroyed theatre, a certain, gigantic mechanical seraph with the true intents of a ruthless devil had appeared from spiraling dark haze.

Everyone was speechless, as it was their first time seeing the false god’s true guise, but Akechi had recognized the figure all too well by this point. His reopened his scarlet eyes, slanting them together in fury as he was once again reacquainted with the one who had started him on his journey towards redemption.

“End this all. Now,” Akechi’s voice boomed, though remaining monotone as he had long since put his previous fears of the demiurge behind. He dusted off the debris from his black-and-purple schemed outfit as he stood up and thrusted his serrated blade high in the air towards the top of Yaldabaoth’s faceless head.

“Why should I do that? Society would be nearly apocalyptic without the order I provide,” Yaldabaoth rebuked tonelessly, crossing his top two arm-like structures together, “I am the reason humanity is able to function. In actuality, I should be praised rather than turned against for such a petty reason as yours.”

“ _Ngh_ …” Ryuji moaned, removing his head from the dust that accumulated over his figure while ducking down. He swayed back on his feet and turned his middle finger crudely towards the god, “That’s a load of shit! ‘I am the reason humanity is able to function’ my _ass_! You’re the reason everyone’s so goddamn… uh…”

Yusuke was next to unbury his head from his knees, jumping to his feet and flipping his bangs away from his eye behind his mask, “I believe dispassionate, lethargic, and supine are various synonyms that easily describe our situation.”

“Uh…” Ryuji leaned his head back and sighed, “Y-Yeah, those words… Either way, they ain’t good!”

“Right,” Makoto climbed back up to her feet and swung back her brass knuckles over her own, staring relentlessly at the creature, “You’re the one who doomed society, and not only did you do that, but you claimed the independence and identity of the one who united us to stand against this disarray. For that, you’ll pay!”

The others slowly began rising up from their defensive positions as well, staring up vengefully.

Humoring the group, Yaldabaoth waited until the final Phantom Thief regained their posture before continuing. He gave a deadpan snark, “How very arrogant of you children. Society was functioning just fine in my eyes before _he_ came along… Speaking of he,” Yaldabaoth’s head turned down towards Shadow Ren, who was paralyzed with absolute fear of his arrival, “I believe it’s time I come and retrieve him. The more he lolls around here, the more of a risk to a change of heart he has… As you may have deduced, that wouldn’t be very beneficial for me.”

“You… you won’t touch him!” Lavenza yelled at her soft voice’s fullest, flicking the pages of her grimoire and striking one of the malevolent god’s hands with ember as he tried to lift Ren’s shadow off the ground, causing him to visibly flinch.

Futaba laughed in awe, eyes widening at Lavenza as she attacked, “Hell yeah, nice one Lavenza! Now, someone go get Ren quickly, we can’t let him be taken and used like before!”

“I’m on it,” Akechi clenched his teeth and made a running start for Shadow Ren while Yaldabaoth was busy frantically tending to his arm.

Shadow Ren bit his lip as Akechi lifted him up behind his shoulder, the reverb in his tone less intense due to the way it now quavered with guilt, “Akechi—”

“Shut up, it’s Goro,” Akechi cut in, “I’m helping you, and that’s final. No, as much as I wanted to before, I won’t kill you.”

The shadow’s lips trembled. Akechi couldn’t tell in the moment, but subconsciously he felt like Shadow Ren was hiding something. Before that thought could make itself more prominent as the shadow fidgeted, he was called forward by Haru.

“Crow! Actually… I think dropping codenames wouldn’t hurt us by this point. Ren already knows in the real world,” Haru commented before returning to her main reason for calling the boy, “Akechi, we’re leaving the theatre. We’re going to the safe room below to return to the entrance quickly.”

“What?!” Akechi shook his head disapprovingly, “And just leave Ren to die? Are we abandoning him that quickly?!”

Ryuji scoffed, though this time it was slightly playful, “Heh, you really got a hard-on for our leader, do ya?

“Wha—”

“Calm down, both of you,” Morgana put himself between the two before they could bicker, “We’re leaving the theatre, but not the palace itself. Futaba sensed something coming from outside. Let’s hurry, it seems like Yaldabaoth disappeared somewhere.”

Akechi nodded and ran behind Haru, Ryuji, and Morgana, but not before looking back to affirm Morgana’s statement. Indeed, the large amount of space Yaldabaoth’s presence took up was barren and now only taken up by the ruins of the stage.

_Where could he have gone…?_

There was no idle chat as the group evacuated the theatre. Only Futaba’s status reports on the palace were vocalized, the rest lost in their thoughts of what was to come. It only took a few minutes before they were back outside at the palace entrance.

Qliphoth had once again been fused, this time with the exterior of Ren’s palace.

“…The distortion levels are returning,” Futaba read off from her goggles, “It’s around twenty percent, though.”

Ryuji griped, “Holy hell, this again…? I’m seriously gonna kick the shit outta someone!” he opened his palm as the dripping crimson from the cloudy sky pattered down endlessly.

Haru sheepishly sighed, putting a hand on Ryuji’s shoulder, “Well, at the very least, reality isn’t affected anymore. So that means we won’t be disappearing any time soon!”

“Well, where to now?” Ann put her hand on her hip and nudged Futaba after taking in their new surroundings, “If you ask me, I’m about ready to put an end to this.”

Futaba fiddled around with her goggles, zooming in the lens when she caught eye of a staircase in the far distance. She slid her goggles up, and smiled, causing them to perk eagerly, “Over there! No traps either, this specific area near the entrance is clear, let’s go!”

“Why… why are you doing this for me?” Shadow Ren called out from underneath Akechi’s shoulder, “Leave me behind… I’m deadweight.”

“That’s not true, dammit!” Akechi growled, “We can’t let you be alone right now. This is your domain, so Yaldabaoth could easily utilize you to make it ten times harder for the rest of us.”

“We’re going to save you…!” Ann tilted her head back, her eyes faintly welled with tears, “I promise, so just hang in there!”

“…”

When the ten got up to the first flight of stairs, Morgana leapt off Futaba’s shoulder and halted the rest from advancing, “Hold on! Up ahead there seems to be three more levels leading up to some sort of temple. There are four powerful shadows located around the end of each floor, too. We should make preparations, right leader?”

Nobody answered. After a few moments, Morgana looked up at Akechi questionably.

Akechi then realized that his query was directed towards him, his mouth agape by the sudden realization, “M-Me…? I’m leader? B-But—hold on a second, Ren is technically back.”

Akechi felt Shadow Ren’s head turn left and right once, “No… I am in no position anymore to lead, nor do I deserve to had I the strength. You make our decision.”

He turned his head towards Ryuji, as he had the most hostility towards him originally. To his surprised, even Ryuji shrugged and smiled lightly as he shook his head uncertainly. It _was_ Akechi’s decision now after all.

“I see…” Akechi stepped forward, eyeing off the scenery ahead one concise time before turning back around, “Then we’ll press on, assuming everyone is ready to go. That _is_ fine with the rest of you, no?”

“We’re all ready to put an end to the Metaverse and reform society for the better, even if we become unable to return to this lifestyle as Phantom Thieves,” Yusuke asserted his position, the others nodding their heads in agreement.

“The first shadow is Uriel up ahead on the next floor!” Futaba announced.

Just as they were preparing to before until their former leader succumbed to Yaldabaoth’s temptations, the Phantom Thieves, now reunited by their former enemy, hastened up the stairway to defeat the four guardian angels leading to Yaldabaoth’s temple. With Lavenza and Akechi on their side, the shadows barring each pathway were easier and easier to defeat. After Uriel and Gabriel were defeated, all that remained was the third floor before the temple entrance.

“…I’m sensing two powerful shadows on this floor,” Futaba, long since inside of Prometheus, notified the rest of the group following behind her, “Thankfully, that seems to be the last of these scumbags!”

“Oh, thank God!” Ryuji patted down the sweat accumulating from his forehead, Yusuke wheezing behind him in exhaustion of all of the running they had been forced through.

“I… haven’t done so much physical labor ever in my life…” The artist rasped, catching his breath.

Akechi smiled as the others made their way to the top of the final set of stairs, “You see that, you shadow? These people care enough about you to go all-out without any breaks.”

There was no answer.

“Hm? Hey, don’t think you can blind yourself of the truth now. Do you see what lengths your friends are willing to go through?” he reiterated.

“I do… but he doesn’t,” Shadow Ren solemnly responded.

Makoto, who had overheard his and Akechi’s discourse, cocked an eyebrow, “What do you mean by that? Surely if you see it, Ren in the real world should sense it.”

“That cannot be done until I’m allowed to accept myself. If I do so, my palace will collapse and this shortcut to Yaldabaoth he has created can’t be accessible,” the yellow glint in the shadow’s eyes dimmed, “Right now… I have no influence over the physical body I inhabit to stop him.”

“Uhm…” Ann’s eyes rounded, “‘Stop’ him?”

Futaba gasped, ejected out from underneath her Persona and making a b-line for the shadow lobbed over Akechi’s shoulder, “N-No! Nononono, you don’t mean—”

“We’ll all be taken out if my body ends his life in reality,” Shadow Ren gulped the knot Akechi could sense forming in his throat.

The others were about to regress from hearing the shocking news Shadow Ren had declared, but Ryuji was the one to snap them back to their objective.

“We gotta go for real then,” he spat on the ground and took a running start to the room ahead, taking down whatever shadows came his way with his Persona. The others heard his voice boom even from several miles away, “Every second matters! Quit messing around and let’s kick the _real_ culprit’s ass!”

Dashing up the obsidian stairs of Qliphoth, the group ignored Shadow Ren’s pessimistic pleas to give up and instead defeated every shadow that attempted to ensnare them. Each desperate cry from the shadow only fueled their resolve and therefore strength, archangels Gabriel and Michael going down with ease. All that remained was the shrine entrance leading to Yaldabaoth’s existence.

“Well…!” Yusuke made the final blow to Michael, elegantly landing onto the ground as the shadow dissipated, “All that remains is Yaldabaoth.”

Futaba snarked, “Tch, you say that like its gonna be an easy thing. In any case, you realize we’re gonna have to fight that Holy Grail thing first, right? He’s prolly using the public subconscious to heal that nasty burn the loli dealt him.”

“Are you referring to me?” Lavenza tilted her head absently.

“Yusuke _does_ have a point though,” Ann pointed out, “The real world seemed to be just fine, minus the whole Shido mourning thing. That should make the fight against the treasure a little less impossible.”

Ryuji kicked aside a stone on the rocky ground, “Whether he’s got the public on his side or not, we’ll be sure he’s completely wiped off the face of the earth after the shit he put Ren through.”

“Right,” Akechi bobbed his head nobly. His thoughts had been plagued with furious vengeance after hearing that Ren was basically preparing arrangements for suicide in the real world, stalling no time and jumping down the gap that lead to Yaldabaoth’s domain at its core.

“ _Yaldabaoth_! We’re done playing your little cat-and-mouse, show your—huh?”

Akechi, who had never seen Yaldabaoth in his Holy Grail state which served as Mementos’ treasure, stood baffled when he saw the large, jewel-encrusted goblet.

“Akechi, what’s wrong?” Ann was next to spring down. She peered her head around and noticed the disturbed look on the boy’s face, giggling and answering his silence, “Oh, heheh, that… yeah, we had to fight this thing before but we were ejected. We should be good to go now, though.”

“Heya, bastard!” Ryuji called out, the others leaping down behind, “Nowhere left to run when you’re too busy lazing around as a giant cup!”

“Hm…” Though taking form as an inanimate object, Yaldabaoth’s voice boomed just as loud and menacing as it had in his true shape, “Even after all of these warnings, you rebels still chose to deny my reign?”

“Your reign has brought forth despair in humanity!” Yusuke damned the god’s words, unsheathing his katana and delivering the first strike to shut the creature of its words, “You’ll pay for dragging our dear friend down to his demise!”

Morgana, who normally would have called Yusuke back from taking action without a second thought, instead backed the artist up and summoned Mercurius to attack with a gust of wind, “The Velvet Room was nearly ruined because of you…! Poor Lavenza, having to be split up and forced to serve under a crooked monster like you!”

Lavenza opened up her grimoire and held her gloved hand high in the air hovered over one of its pages, “I shall never forgive nor submit to a menace such as yourself. God’s Hand!”

As Yusuke, Morgana, and Lavenza attacked the Holy Grail’s main body, the others worked to sever the tubes that Yaldabaoth had used to regenerate his vigor.

But even without his ability to restore his strength, the group gravely underestimated the false god’s power. He overwhelmed the group with ease, Yusuke once again risking an unfortunate demise as it tried to attack Futaba, had it not been for Futaba herself to pull him back with Prometheus.

She relocated Prometheus to the corner of the room, ejected herself and Yusuke from the center of its base.

“What were you thinking…?! Why do you keep putting your life on the line to protect me?” Futaba yelled before Yusuke could even comprehend the sudden deed.

Yusuke removed the mask which concealed his face, Futaba doing the same with her goggles due to the others distracting Yaldabaoth with their attacks. He fidgeted with the popped collar of his outfit and looked down curiously at the girl, “What an odd thing to retrieve me from battle for. I could reverse the question on your end and ask why you get yourself in a position where you need to be saved. You have been behaving awfully strange.”

“That’s—”

“Y-Yusuke, hurry up…! You’re our heavy hitter!” Haru squeaked as she narrowly avoided a beaming arrow fired by the grail.

The artist gulped, turning his back around and sliding his mask back down, “I’m sorry, Futaba. We both need to get ba—”

“Cuz I’m scared, that’s why!” Without thinking, Futaba grabbed Yusuke by his wrist and blurted out.

Such a suprising admission enticed Yusuke to hear out what the normally churlish underclassmen had to say. He revolved back to facing the navigator, “You’re… scared? This is strange, especially for you.”

When Yusuke turned back around, Futaba’s entire face was red. She shifted her weight from side to side, casting her eyes downward to avoid Yusuke’s with the assumption that he was grinning. Ignoring her own paranoid expectations, Futaba elaborated so as not to waste more time than she was already doing, “Ugh, you know… About Ren. It was fine when it was just a shadow, but when we were facing off against him in reality, I blanked. I… I _wanted_ him to win, and that’s why I didn’t avoid his attack.”

“You _wanted_ him to emerge victorious?” Yusuke only for a bare second felt uneased, but was quick to understand completely, “Ah… I think I must have felt the same when I rushed off to save you. I didn’t exactly care about my life in the heat of the moment. For you, though, this must be quite more dreadful than for the rest of us. Either Ren dies, or he’ll live on as a guilt-ridden shell of his former self.”

“Not really the best person to go to for comfort, Inari,” Futaba muttered, her eyes glinting up vexingly.

“I-I’m so sorry,” Yusuke clutched his head, immediately regretting the way he handled her nerves.

Futaba heaved her breath and began playing with a lock of her hair, “…Look. The others need our help, right? It doesn’t matter anymore, forget I said anything. Ren leaves at the start of March anyway, so I’m gonna be alone in Leblanc regardless.”

Yusuke jerked his head back down, “…Wait, is that what you’re saddened by? Being alone again?”

Futaba didn’t answer, returning to her bashful state and crossing her arms. Yusuke knew he had to choose his next words carefully; after all, he already messed up once.

So instead of saying anything at all, Yusuke grabbed her top hand and smiled down with a sudden unexpected surge of confidence in his expression, “Then… what if I fulfill that role?”

“H-Huh…? Inari, what are you—H-Hold on, are you hitting on me?!”

He flipped back his bangs so he could see Futaba with both eyes and memorize the rare expression of embarrassment that was clearly etched onto her face, “Not entirely. Sure, I couldn’t exactly take you to many places considering my lack of… financial management, but I could always spend time with you during that duration of time between Ren’s departure and your high school entrance exams.”

“Hurry the hell up, Inari, we almost got him!” Both Phantom Thieves heard Ryuji shout riotously across the battlefield.

Futaba kept her hand wrapped within Yusuke’s, feeling an odd sense of solace from it. She looked up mischievously to veil her true nature of timidity that he had triggered, “B-Boy, you sure as hell caught me off guard… J-Just to be clear, I have so many questions that’ll have to wait ‘til later… and it’s not a date whenever we do, got that?!” she used her free hand to scratched the back of her head out of habit, “B-But to do that… we gotta help the others first in destroying that monster, right Yus—Inari!!”

She was quick to correct herself, trying desperately to imitate her normal crass tongue out of fear of being too “cheesy” or “lovey”. Yusuke didn’t try to provoke her, as they simply lacked the time to spend idle from the fight. He took a running start to back up Makoto, Futaba reentering Prometheus and catching up to the rest of the party.

“Hah…” Shadow Ren, who was watching the two’s moment from behind Akechi’s shoulder, smiled genuinely, “It’s relieving to know that you all can bicker and have fun just the same even with my problems on your list.”

Akechi had only caught bits of the two’s conversation, as he was too busy spearheading the attacking on the grail. However, even he had to admit the moment made him feel warm inside, though lacking the proper experience or words to describe the exact feeling, “Yeah. It’s the first time I’ve experienced a wholesome scene like that, even if I was merely a bystander of it…”

“You know,” Ann began after emptying her magazine of her gun on the creature, “After that date with Mishima I owe him, we—” She stopped.

Akechi gulped and turned his head to the conflicted girl, stammering, “W-Wait, Ann, you aren’t suggesting—”

“Nevermind…!” Ann blurted out and returned to attacking the Holy Grail alongside Makoto.

“Lady Ann…?” Morgana’s ears drooped when he overheard the exchange between her and Akechi.

Ryuji dropped his crowbar and spread his arms wide, “Jeez, is today just subtle confessions day or some shit?! Weird, it’s not like we’re fighting the first form of a _god_!”

“‘Confessions’?!” Akechi was speechless, breaths quickening by the second.

Another beam of light in the materialization of an arrow was directed towards the clearly overwhelmed Akechi, Ryuji being the one to counter it with the magic barrier Haru had erected for him and the others with Astarte.

“Futaba!” Makoto called out, noticing Prometheus hovering over the field out the corner of her eye, “How much health does this thing have left? I think we’ve knocked it down quite a bit!”

“Not a lot left,” Futaba answered the girl, still slightly distracted by Yusuke’s promise to spend time with her regardless of how Ren leaves.

“N-Not a lot either, as for my case…” Shadow Ren gloomily added, much to the risen panic of the rest of the group.

Ryuji bit his lip, “Shit, you don’t gotta say it so carelessly…!” He then begun exhausting all of his strength into attacking the Holy Grail with Seiten Taisei.

One of Ryuji’s flurry of attacks was left undocumented by the Holy Grail, knocking the grail off guard and leaving an opening for the group to finish him off quicker.

“Oh! Good job, Ryuji!” Haru diverted her attention back onto the chalice after it emitted a grieving moan.

Futaba chimed, “Hit ‘im with an all-out attack and that should be all!”

“I’m on it!” Ryuji saluted goofily.

“Time to punish him!” Haru shouted darkly.

“I will slice you to pieces!” Yusuke had now withdrawn Kamu Susano-o.

Akechi gently laid Shadow Ren down and extended his hand to call forth Loki, “Learned your lesson, Yaldabaoth? Stay out of our world!”

The Thieves dealt four powerful blows to the grail with their Personas, though with the Holy Grail being a lifeless form, nobody could tell whether or not Yaldabaoth was truly defeated.

Several moments of silence passed before Ryuji impatiently tapped his foot, “…We got him, right?”

“…Futaba?” Makoto turned her head at the navigator who had exited her Persona to examine up close.

Futaba jumped back, “H-Huh?! Oh. It’s quiet, but I dunno…”

Yusuke walked up next to Futaba and leaned forward to inspect the giant chalice up close, “It should be dead now. I don’t hear any sort of beating like we could earlier. Could we have destroyed Yaldabaoth’s soul somehow?”

Immediately debunking Yusuke’s theory, the shrine began to quake violently. The doors to the infinite number of cells imprisoning the cognitive followers of the god began to swing open like a pendulum, the ceiling above beginning to cave in.

“Seriously, another one?!” Makoto plugged her ears and crouched down slightly.

Ryuji fell over as the tremor knocked him off balance, kneeling down on one foot and shutting his eyes tightly as the debris began to scatter from the splitting ceiling, “Haven’t we had enough of this shit?!”

Morgana’s ears quirked up when he caught earshot of a noise reminiscent of gears grinding in a factory. He hopped forward to examine where the noise was coming from, his ears redirecting his eyes towards the Holy Grail they had all presumed was defeated. Two golden bolts connected to nuts on the sides of the chalice began to loosen from the earthquake, eventually dropping down to the floor.

“Hey! Yusuke, Futaba, get away now!”

“Huh…?!” Futaba jerked her head from Morgana to Yusuke and took his arm quickly, though the tremor knocked them both off their feet as they had no choice but to slide across the floor to get back to the others.

“The eff is happening to the grail?! This looks bad, you guys…!” Ryuji stared widely at the Holy Grail which was now beginning to spin.

Simultaneous to the Holy Grail rearranging itself, the ceiling and walls of the shrine began to unfold, falling down to the ground at the very bottom of Qliphoth. Once the convulsion came to a standstill, Yaldabaoth hovered above all of the debris seemingly more enormous than before.

 _This surrounding…_ Akechi looked up at the cloudy blue and orange sky, the sun seeming just within reach from how high they were elevated. _It’s just as I remember when I was teleported here alone on Christmas Eve from my motel room._

_But now I have friends with me. Now I have a purpose for being here._

“Y-You again?!” Ryuji had a flash of déjà vu as he removed his head from another pile of ruin.

“Nowhere left for him to run though. This really is the end,” Makoto reminded Ryuji.

Yaldabaoth’s voice once again resonated the area, “I am the administrator of the collective subconscious… And as administrator, it is my duty to quash the troubles mankind has caused from what little control I have granted them. Surrender the boy, and I will grant you your lives so long as you live them out as _slaves_.”

“Tch. You said that before when you turned yourself into a giant cup and we still kicked your ass,” Ryuji scoffed, smirking down at Shadow Ren, “Ain’t that right? You saw it! We’ll do it as many times as needed!”

Ren’s shadow didn’t laugh. Instead, he closed his eyes and whispered, “That’s… impossible this time.”

“Curb those despondent thoughts of yours,” Yusuke physically winced by the shadow’s cynicism and hopelessness which contrasted the leader he knew.

“Yeah,” Ann added to Yusuke’s comment, “We’re gonna save society by destroying Yaldabaoth, just like you intended. Society includes you, too!”

“Please…” Instead of following up with another bleak outlook of the situation, Shadow Ren buried his head in Akechi’s arm and accepted their words, “End this before I do something foolish. I never wanted to die, and that was partially why I sided with that demon.”

Akechi nodded, glaring up at Yaldabaoth and pointing his weapon against the false deity as did the others, “Yeah… Yeah. We won’t let you down. The only one going down is _him_.”

This was their final battle. It had barely been an entire week, and with how much and how intense the events that transpired had been, it felt like years. While what Ann ensured him regarding that he had long since earned his atonement, Akechi had grown from his experiences. Even if at the very end he would have to turn himself in to the police, what mattered to him now was eliminating Yaldabaoth and undoing all he had constructed leading to the downfall of Ren and the rest of humanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the final showdown between the Phantom Thieves and Yaldabaoth, the former winning but with an awful price.
> 
> // just two more chapters to go! Sorry that this chapter is mostly filler, but I just gotta include filler and Qliphoth somehow. As always, thank you all for your support! School starts on the 13th, but I'll try to upload the last two chapters on the next two Saturdays unless I feel like I rushed.


	11. Final Performance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akechi, Lavenza, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, and Haru join together against Yaldabaoth's true form. They continue to fight him, only to reach a predicament that only Ren can solve with a cost.

Surroundings morphed from that of a benevolent shrine into its true secret as the clouds of a twisted heaven, the shrine’s relic also revealing itself for the final time as that heaven’s ruler. The Phantom Thieves, who were scorned upon for vindicating reform, were facing the favored, wicked deity with pride in their beliefs, their fears now long expired from the tedious journey prior.

“Yeah… hell yeah, what Akechi said, dammit! We’re tired of your bullshit, humanity’s only this way ‘cuz of your rigged little game!” Ryuji finally cracked a smile towards the boy he had the longest trouble accepting as one of them, walking up to him and quickly patted his shoulder.

Though faceless, the group could practically hear the smirk in Yaldabaoth’s tone, “Humanity has only plummeted out of fear due to your selfish desires for ‘rehabilitation’… Man will always commit crime, you realize, whether or not someone is above monitoring. It is simply the natural order of society.”

“That’s not true…!” Makoto called out and rose her fist, “You’re correct that crimes will still be committed regardless of who or who doesn’t govern humanity, but you instigated an even worse threat by allowing a criminal like Shido your powers of the Metaverse! The cops couldn’t do anything about that, so we had to.”

“Haha… ahahaha!” Yaldabaoth’s body rose, gleaming in the light of the bright sun shimmering behind and amplifying his already terrifyingly more powerful presence which towered over the mere humans who opposed his will. The god’s head tilted downwards, “I _enlightened_ certain humans in the existence of the Metaverse’s powers… humans couldn’t handle that shrill bit of knowledge and destroyed themselves. Now I will grant them the ignorance that indeed gave them bliss before.”

Yusuke bit back, “No, that’s wrong. _You_ were the one who knocked over the domino which caused the others to collapse.”

“Fools, the lot of you!” Yaldabaoth barked back to the enthusiastic composer of the group, “I granted humanity the freedom not to choose, not to have to think amongst themselves, and you have disrupted that peaceful order.”

“Asshole… You call life before the Phantom Thieves ‘peace’?!” Akechi spat as his face contorted into a twisted grimace, “What you’ve started had ruined my _life_! If it had never been for your influence, my father could have been just that rather than a ruthless, heartless felon.”

Now Yaldabaoth took interest in Akechi, “Hmhmhm… But, I gave you power in doing that, didn’t I? If I recall correctly, you were the one on your hands and knees thanking the one who gave you those powers those two or three years back. I gave you an identity!”

It was just as Shadow Ren remarked to Akechi when he was subconsciously warning him not to trigger the very god before him himself by defeating Arsene. Ren sided with Yaldabaoth to keep his identity and greaten it rather than renouncing his abilities after properly ending the Metaverse.

And then he wound up worse than before. Ren was nothing more than a puppet.

Akechi balled his fist, his other hand itching to wrap itself around the hilt of the blade dangling on his side. “Isn’t that the exact same logic Ren had in agreeing to your coercion? Look at him now, dammit! That would’ve been me if I let myself go down Shido’s downward spiral any further!”

Shadow Ren mumbled unintelligibly behind the boy who was now defending his honor, though Akechi could very faintly hear the words “thank you” at its conclusion.

“He’s right…! That’s not fair at all!” Haru added.

Lavenza’s fair, thin brows knitted into an intense squint, “They are all in the right. A true god wouldn’t manipulate humanity’s limits and spectate as they destroy themselves solely for the selfish purpose of ‘entertainment’! If that is your world you wish to lure mortals into, then that is a world we will take no part in!”

“You will still stand against me, even if doing so results in surrendering praise from the society that have favored you since the beginning?”

Ann lavishly posed as the shadow of her Persona mimicked through blue flames upon being summoned, “Even if humanity begs and rejects our actions, we will use our advantages over them to save them and unblind them from your sick control!”

“…Even if you lose your abilities in the process? Returning to your lives as nobodies in the vast crowd?”

“Awfully persistent for a ‘god’!” Futaba withdrew her Persona and entered, the rest of her sentence now spoken with an echoey reverb, “We don’t give a damn about that, so quit wasting our time!”

Akechi licked his bottom lip cockily and chuckled, “Heh, did you hear that? Unlike them, we were given the abilities to spot the true source of our kind’s faults. We will use that for good no matter what you promise us, so what do you say now?”

“Nobody has the right to access a world like the Metaverse, not even us,” Morgana added, “so don’t even try to spike a deal with us to keep it!”

“Indeed… how very troublesome,” Yaldabaoth retracted his four arms, later withdrawing them now holding the same gun, bell, sword, and tome that Akechi recognized had nearly killed him upon their first formal meeting. His head cast down at the ten, “My judgment shall reign upon those who question my wisdom and order!”

“Watch out!” Futaba yielded the others from attacking, “His power reading is off the charts! Where do we even begin with him…?”

Akechi knew, answering immediately to the lost navigator’s confusion, “Half of us should attack the weapons, while the others left should go for the main body. However, if the party focusing on his limbs can’t take them down before he can strike, the others should prioritize eliminating them before him.”

Makoto shot a wide-eyed stare at Akechi, “Wow… How do you sound so confident about what our strategy should be? Have you two met before?”

“Aww, but I wanna take this bastard down _now_!” Ryuji whined, cracking his neck to relieve his stress and kicking the rubble belonging to the temple which previously stood.

Ignoring Ryuji’s grievances, Akechi instead answered his former coworker’s sister, “On Christmas day. I awoke in the motel room I was still at the time taking hiding in, presumably after Ren took up Yaldabaoth’s deal since the news was talking about the Phantom _Thief_ for the first time. I lost my powers but somehow was still teleported to this very area, and he used those four weapons to conjure a single, yet near-fatal attack,” he concluded his exposition, “It would be best for us to at least take down one of them so he can’t pull such a stunt.”

“I see… Alright, listen up everyone!” The attention was now directed up at Futaba who had finished her analysis, “Akechi, Morgana, Yusuke, and Makoto, you all will attack the main body. Morgana, you will focus on healing the other three in your group, but if they have enough energy to continue, attack with Mercurius’ Panta Rhei wind ability. Yusuke, physical abilities are your stronger suit, so strike him with all of your might. As for you, Makoto, use Anat for buffing the others’ defense and healing, but attack physically on the main body until the buffs are out since he repels your Persona’s nuclear attacks. Akechi, you’ll cover healing, attacking, and buffing when either Morgana, Yusuke, or Makoto need to take time to recover.”

Ryuji complained slightly more under his breath for not being placed on the team focusing on Yaldabaoth himself, “Dammit, I’m good at attackin’ physically too, come on and replace me ‘n Makoto or something!”

Futaba tried to stifle a scoff before responding with an attitude, “Hmph, even if I _had_ to replace you, it would make sense to be in place of Yusuke, dumbass.”

As the four Futaba had just given tactics to dismissed, all that were left were Ryuji, Ann, Haru, and Lavenza.

“Futaba-chan, all we would have to do then is to try and strike the four arms in one attack, correct?” Haru rose her finger and voiced her assumptions.

“Sorta, but a little more than just a brutal beating,” Futaba responded, “Ann, you’ll be this group’s primary healer, but don’t be afraid to debuff the weapons to make things a lot easier. Remember, we _have_ to get them down before that creepy god monster has a chance to use them, or otherwise this will be a lot more difficult.”

“On it!” Ann cheerfully answered.

“Ryuji, similar to what Yusuke’s doing, you’ll be this group’s heavy hitter, except you’ll be using multi-target attacks,” the strategist of the Thieves resumed, “Haru, you should definitely use Astarte for forming magic and physical barriers for everyone at the end of our phase.”

After dismissing the other three, Lavenza was last to be given a duty. The Velvet Room attendant hadn’t even been paying attention to Futaba, and lost track of time. The fair-haired, innocent maiden had been too busy lied down and huddled over the slowly dying Shadow Ren, trying her absolute best to sustain his life.

“…Er, Lavenza—”

“I know,” Lavenza stood up from the exhausted shadow attired as Joker—her Trickster—and dusted off her dress and grimoire before turning to Futaba, “It is natural that this final battle taking place in the Metaverse would require the combined effort of everyone. Seeing that we’re tasked against a god himself, I won’t fight. This is for him, after all.”

“Lavenza, if you don’t wanna fight…”

“I do!” Lavenza immediately insisted, “Please, give me _my_ order, Oracle! Whether he lives or dies because I abandoned his body to fight the monster who overtook my home, he will certainly be proud I took part in finishing his mission.”

Futaba went quiet for a few more seconds, presumably lost in thought, before obliging with Lavenza’s assertion to aid, “I—no, I get it. Alright, if you say so, then buff the others and switch between elemental attacks that the weapons aren’t resistant to. Basically, you’ll fill in for Akechi’s and I’s roles for that group.”

“I’m on it…! For him!” Lavenza tried to shout and imitate Ann’s prideful response, but it instead came out as an adorable squeak and her tripping over as she ran over to catch up to the rest of her teammates.

The final battle was, naturally, very grueling. Unlike the others which the Phantom Thieves were able to breeze past, there were many times Yaldabaoth simply overwhelmed them and certain roles had to be reversed, such as Yusuke and Makoto having to join the team prioritizing the destruction of Yaldabaoth’s four tools before he could use them at the last minute. When they were busy striking down the weapons as fast as they could, then Akechi and Morgana were nearly outnumbered and had to focus on passive skills such as healing, buffing, or simply stuck with defending themselves and hoping the god’s following attack wouldn’t be the last they live to see.

Beaten and bruised, their fancy thief attires nearly shredded and dirtied, the Thieves nevertheless stayed on their two feet. They continued giving it their all despite being well exhausted of their vitalities, pushing forward wholly on determination. It was a fight mere humans were never expected to win, but they continued to battle with their heads held high despite the blood splattered on their battlefield mostly their own.

Shadow Ren, meanwhile, was too weak to even move his legs now. He was a guilty bystander to the fight between the Phantom Thieves Akechi was leading in his place, and Yaldabaoth, the malevolent demiurge which ruined him. Each time one of the Thieves stood right back up off the ground after taking fatal damage ignited the slight wick of hope he still had left. He wondered if that hope he felt was the reason he hadn’t fully perished yet, assuming his body in the real world was prolonging his attempts of suicide because of that feeling.

“What a waste of time… have you rebels still not had enough?” Yaldabaoth asked after Ryuji dealt the final blow to the last remaining weapon on the god’s person, that being the Book of Commandments which represented the combined deadly sins of wrath and pride.

Ryuji slid off of the god back onto the ground with the rest of his partners, “Hell no!”

“Give it up, Yaldabaoth!” Prometheus’ simple, iridescent face rolled back to face the god, Futaba wishing to take a good, long look at the being who dug Ren into his despair to fuel her anger, “…It seems like your weapons are gone now, and your health is just low enough to be completely emptied after an ultimate attack from all nine of us. Any last words?”

Yaldabaoth tried to suppress his laugh into a controlled, steady chuckle, but instead broke into maniacal howls of laughter.

“W-What…?!” Ann whispered, eyes round as she stammered back.

“Tch, the hell’re you laughin’ at?! Your death?!” Ryuji tried to act tough, but even he was alarmed by the sudden insane behavior of the ruthless god that was at least civilized in his manners.

Akechi tried to call out to the god, but his hearing was engulfed by strange, wispy cries. Multiple voices filled his eardrums, but he couldn’t recognize any of them as the voices became one, unified amalgam of desperate begging.

 _This is…_ Akechi covered his ears and hunched over, but the voices only seemed to amplify in volume. _The will of the people. But… why?! Dammit, don’t they see what’s going on? No, didn’t we sever that tie?!_

The leader of the Thieves slowly opened his eyes, the eight before him also in a similar position of trying to block out some of the absolutely bloodcurdling screams those cries were turning into.

“It is as I said. My control will not bow down to the ruin you trash wish to instill… My control… is the definitive truth society accepts!” The large halo above Yaldabaoth’s head began to rotate faster and faster, his four arms regenerating with all four weapons in hand as the will of the society he imprisoned in sloth healed the injuries the Phantom Thieves had given their all to inflict.

It was like déjà vu for Akechi when steams of black and red light casted from each weapon and formed a sphere of energy at the center of Yaldabaoth’s body.

“That’s more like it…” Yaldabaoth muttered coldly as the others knelt down from the pain, “Bow before my rays of control! Death shall be your punishment!”

The cruel immortal entity fired his attack at the ground below the group, the force in the blow he had spent charging breaking up the earth below and blasting the nine up in the air to the point that they were eventually higher above than himself. Had they returned to the ground from that much height, they would have surely become a morbid, lifeless paste.

“We need… to get up…!” Akechi wheezed from midair, his vision fading in and out just as he remembered before, except this time, he couldn’t be rescued by Lavenza.

“M-More like get down… s-safely!” Ryuji tried to quip.

Lavenza coughed weakly, her lungs polluted by the ash and smoke which arose, “P-Please…!”

“I can’t… go on…!” Futaba attempted pulling out her Persona at the last minute, but her stamina was far too low.

“W-What an artless way to die…” Yusuke shook his head disappointedly.

It felt like decades for the group to start falling back down.

Haru covered her fear-filled expression with her gloved hands as the distance from the ground quickly expanded, “No, _NO!!_ ”

“I-I need… to finish… my mission!” Morgana had received the worst of Yaldabaoth’s ultimate move, having been the frailest.

The masses’ desperate thoughts longing their “god”, which had enabled his strength to return in the first place, echoed in the air once again.

“Do you hear their voices? They loathe you. You have been forsaken by all of the world in your goal of ‘reform’, and so you will perish. I am doing you a favor; living in a world where you don’t belong is a fate far worse than death…” Yaldabaoth concluded, his composure once again dissolving with a flurry of insane howling.

Ann grimaced, “S-Seriously…!”

Makoto held on tightly to Ann’s shoulder, eyes fixated horrifically on the ground she was about to connect with, “We don’t care… Even if it seems like torture, we’ll show the world… We’ll show them what its like to truly be f-free!”

Shadow Ren was the one to rescue the nine from such a humiliating fate. Nearly tormenting himself by forcing his broken body to stand upright, the shadow slid his mask firmly into place and gravelly yelled with a distorted resonance, “Persona!”

Rather than summoning Arsene as his true counterpart could have done, his form was engulfed by dark haze and once again morphed into his main Persona. He dashed below where the nine were all fated to fall and evoked a giant physical barrier, taking up much of what little strength he had mustered as the nine Phantom Thieves now safely joined back down on the quaked, rocky ground. As soon as his duty was successful, Arsene contorted back into Shadow Ren, who fell forward.

“R-Ren…?!” Akechi opened his eyes, which he had squeezed tightly under the assumption that seconds later he would be dead.

“ _Haah… haaaaah…_ ” Shadow Ren breathed deeply, pulled his arms closer and trying to use his hands to push his body over to face the others, yet failing from his ever-increasing fatigue. Lavenza did him the favor of turning his body around.

“Impossible…!” Yaldabaoth, who had forgotten about the distorted shadow of his puppet enforcer, winced as the Phantom Thieves once again lived to see through his fatal attack.

The sky above began to darken, the clouds concealing the shining sun that had made Yaldabaoth’s presence appear divine. Simultaneously, the voices of the people became louder.

“We’ll never bow down to you! My past alone is living proof that your role brings nothing but hardship to a world deserving of true peace! And this rebellion I took part in officially… the happiness I have found by standing against you, the friends, the purpose… that is proof that your elimination will give everyone in the _world_ that same satisfaction,” Akechi now had the courage to advance closer to the god, ignoring the voices which once plagued his mind and focus.

Yaldabaoth laughed down at Akechi’s speech, blasting him with an arrow of golden light.

For once, Shadow Ren was no longer apathetic to the world around him. After all, he had gotten himself involved by stepping in and saving the group. He turned around to Akechi, who was knocked down and nearly blasting down across the peak. His yellow eyes widened, “A… Akechi…”

“Akechi!!” Ann’s cry was much louder, leading the rest of the group to their fallen, wheezing leader.

“Go ahead… k-kill me,” Akechi shook his head and spat up as the others crowded around his body, “I already achieved peace… It won’t change anything to kill me, because the others… t-they will always climb back up!”

“We ain’t letting that bastard kill you!” Ryuji shook Akechi’s body briefly yet violently.

Akechi continued his speech, “It’s as Ren once told me when we dueled back in Shido’s palace… the Phantom Thieves, no matter the hardships… will… will…!”

“…WILL TAKE THE WORLD!”

The volume and compassion in Akechi’s speech’s concluding words were enough to ring through the air, drowning out the ghastly cries of the alleged public subconscious.

It was enough for the entire world to hear, including the big city of Tokyo the Phantom Thieves’ roots were tied to. At some point during the final battle against Yaldabaoth’s true form, Qliphoth once again fused itself with the real world, only those with ties to Ren realizing the baleful sense that something was off as the sky once again dripped scarlet liquid into their hands. However, as soon as Akechi’s voice echoed vaguely in the ears of the general public, society began to realize as well.

“H-Holy shit…!” a young, average-looking teenager grabbed onto the collar of a police officer monitoring Shibuya Central Street, “D-Do something about this, goddammit! Aren’t you the police?!”

The middle-aged officer, whose face was also etched with horror, tried his best to calm the assertive boy down, “Please, you have to calm down!”

A shocked business man pulled out his phone to try and call his wife about the situation, only to be greeted by an automated voice message.

“Akechi’s right…!” Morgana’s voice rang, vaguely filtered by a grainy radio transmission, “The Phantom Thieves… we’ll take the world!”

The crowded street’s attention shot up at the direction the voice was coming from. The giant displays around the city that had once just been static now projected the infamous emblem of the Phantom Thieves.

“Is this… the Phantom Thief…?” A Shujin student called out to his friend.

The other student clutched his head, “Urgh… no… There were multiple voices on there, dude!”

A veteran officer stared awestruck at the screen, “No, wait… there were multiple Phantom Thieves. Right…?”

“They haven’t lost hope yet…” A timid, female Kosei student shoved past the crowd with her boyfriend to take a closer look at the display.

“But… can they do anything about this?” A business man asked.

Amongst the fearing, uncertain crowd, a familiar blue-haired Shujin student jumped in the air with his fist held high. It was Mishima, pumping his fist up and down, “TAKE IT DOWN, PHANTOM THIEVES!!”

The crowd went quiet, awkwardly staring Mishima.

Rather than shying back from the response, Mishima’s face was filled with irritation, “Come on! Are all of you this blind?! They’ve risked their lives all this time and went through enough trouble because of you people! Snap out of it…! Don’t fall to this ‘false truth’, snap out of it!!”

A few moments of silence passed, Mishima regaining his equanimity and the crowd realizing their faults.

“He’s right… the Phantom Thieves did all of this for us!”

“To think I continued to support a criminal like Shido… tch!”

The crowd knew their answer. They mimicked Mishima, pumping their fists in the air despite how young or old they were. Gender, race, age, it didn’t matter in the moment; society had realized their faults and were now collectively giving the Phantom Thieves their support to try and make up for their indolence.

Sojiro, who had recognized Mishima’s eccentric voice and love of the Phantom Thieves, casually strolled over to the boy and smirked, “So, you someone who’s been charmed by the Thieves as well?”

Mishima’s face grinned as he realized he had indirectly made someone as cranky as Sojiro smile, drawing his fists down below his chin and continuing to smile stupidly, “You… you bet! Is the same true for you too?”

The coffee shop owner scratched the nape of his neck and looked past the crowd, “I’d say so, and it definitely looks as if we aren’t the only ones enchanted by ‘em.”

Each representative of the Major Arcana were on the lively street, engulfed in the emblem appearing on the screen and by the cooperation of everyone joined together in unison to deliver them their support and apologies.

 _Death_. Tae Takemi’s normal lethargic face turned into an energized look of confidence, “I’m not letting you lose after you’ve gotten this far! You all better finish what you’ve started!”

 _Hanged Man._ Munehisa Iwai crossed his arms and smirked, removing the cigarette lit in his mouth, “It may not look like it, but I’ve got high hopes for you guys. You better win this!”

 _Temperance._ Sadayo Kawakami put a hand on her hip and beamed, “They’ll win if I cheer them on…? Then, I’ll cheer them on as much as they need!”

 _Devil._ Ichiko Ohya thought back to what she had seen the god of control do to Ren, grimacing at the memory, “You’ve stolen the hearts of this many people, so I won’t let you lose!”

 _Fortune._ Chihaya Mifune put a hand over her heart, “I can tell that you are all capable of standing against any kind of fate.”

 _Sun._ Toranosuke Yoshida crossed his arms and stared up haughtily, “You all are truly causing a revolution right now! Goooooo!”

 _Star._ Hifumi Togo clasped her hands together, “Look forward and keep fighting! You’ve taught me that, after all…!”

 _Tower._ Shinya Oda put his hand in his pocket, “I’ve cheered you guys on all this time, and I’ll continue doing so from here on out!”

 _Judgement._ Sae Niijima, who had personal connections to all of the Thieves now, cast aside her cellphone and smiled faintly, “I’m counting on you, everyone! I will believe in you to the very end!”

 _Justice._ Shiho Suzui, who had always believed in the Phantom Thieves since they saved her from further abuse, inched closer to Sae and yelled, “You saved me before, so give everyone a chance to feel the same way I did by breaking them free!”

 _Hierophant._ Sojiro turned his head back around to the large display of the Phantom Thieves logo imposed over the static, “It’s your guys’ fault that I don’t know when to quit either! Get back up, and don’t you dare lose to that thing!”

 _Moon._ Mishima did the same, leaning forward and shouting, “No matter what anyone says, I believe in you all…! GO FOR IT, PHANTOM THIEVES!!”

 _Strength._ Lavenza, who was with the rest of the group back in the Qliphoth-fused world of Ren’s palace, nudged Akechi’s shoulder as his motivation waved through and unblinded all of society, “Do you see this? We are their last hope, so let’s finish this!”

The whines and moans were now drowned by the voices of their closest allies, until eventually the cries ceased completely and were replaced by bouts of hope.

“I hear them… I hear them all!” Akechi jumped back to his feet.

Morgana jumped back down from his should and pointed at Yaldabaoth with his paw, “You see that! _This_ is the truth, and we will end your rule just as everyone wants! Isn’t that right, guys?!”

As each representative of the Major Arcana’s voices cycled over, tarot cards formed from blue flame and floated into Akechi’s cupped hands. Even the tarot cards of his friend’s Arcanas formed.

 _Magician… Chariot… Lovers… Emperor… Priestess… Hermit… and Empress._ Akechi identified them just before they landed.

“All that’s left…” Akechi swiveled around to the keeled over Shadow Ren, “is the Fool Arcana.”

The nine’s attention was now directed at Shadow Ren still shot down at the center of the rocky terrain.

Shadow Ren chuckled weakly, “I… I wish I had the ability to grant you the twenty-first tarot card, but I am merely a shadow.”

“Huh…?” Makoto rose a brow, “But shouldn’t Ren in the real-world notice any of this?”

Shadow Ren shook his head and looked down solemnly, the others following as they were lost regarding what to do.

“Can’t you contact him…?” Futaba looked up and asked quietly.

The others looked at the younger girl confusedly.

“Contact him?” Yusuke repeated, wondering if he heard the girl correctly.

Futaba began to get flustered, playing with a lock of her orange-dyed hair, “Well, ‘cuz, I mean, I was able to do that… W-Well, actually, it was more like my shadow contacted me instead, but it still helped me understand what was going on and manipulate my palace to help you guys.”

“…I know what to do,” Shadow Ren caught on. Before anyone could question him, the shadow evaporated into the same black vapor as before.

Ryuji jumped back, “Wh-what the—?!”

The city of Tokyo, especially the area around Shibuya Central Street, became barren. People had received news of what the jumbo screens were displaying, the receivers of their friends’ and families’ messages leaving right away to the street to watch.

It was only when the area downtown Ren was lurking around was deserted that he felt the sense that something was off.

Ever since Yaldabaoth’s heed, Ren had lost all faith. His friends were gone, his powers which allowed him to be his true self were lost, and the ones he had assumed wanted to spend time with him were only doing so out of fear. Family was also out of the question, as even from the beginning, his parents had never bothered to call nor ask about him since sending him off to Sojiro carelessly without a second thought.

He laid himself down on the train tracks of the area, waiting for the next train to end his life for the better.

But just as he finally heard the faint engine of a train approaching from afar, the sound was cut short abruptly. When he sat up, he noticed everything had stopped. He wondered if Yaldabaoth had come once again with news that would somehow send him even deeper into his despair.

“…Ren.”

His ears perked up. The husky voice sounded awfully familiar, but was certainly not the god he formed a pact with.

Emerging from the ground, a man dressed as Joker opened his eyes and looked down at his hopeless counterpart with yellow eyes.

“You’re…!”

Shadow Ren knelt over and touched his physical body on the shoulder, “…You know what to do. The others are fighting Yaldabaoth, for _our_ sake. We are connected. You may lack the power, but I can exploit Yaldabaoth’s weakness for you… Certainly, you know what I’m speaking of?”

Ren stared awestruck at his shadow, his grey eyes tearing up for a split second before he got up off the tracks and stuck out his hand to shake his own shadow’s, “…I understand. That would be a far better way to go out,” he gave a tired smile.

Just like that, the shadow vanished and time began again. Ren threw over the hood of his jacket over his head and made a detour back to Shibuya Central Street to garner some motivation for his final move to save the rest of the Thieves fighting Yaldabaoth somewhere in his own palace.

The shadow appeared once again with the others in Qliphoth. Luckily, Yaldabaoth was too frozen with fear and contempt to attack the group while he was gone. His followers had been converted, and now he was the one who didn’t belong to the world.

Akechi’s scarlet eyes rounded at Shadow Ren’s reappearance, “R-Ren—!”

The last tarot card, the Fool, appeared in midair over Akechi’s hands. Though he was relieved, Akechi was too curious as to where the shadow had gone.

Shadow Ren recognized the look on Akechi’s face and averted his gaze, chuckling, “Heh… Think of this as a thank you, my friend… I would have never expected the tides to finally pull away from me into your favor, but nevertheless, I am proud of who you’ve become…”

Yusuke shook his head frantically, biting his lip and his tone now quivering, “No… you cannot just say things like that without explaining what you’ve done!”

“Y-Yeah!” Ann laughed sheepishly.

“You’re almost making it sound like you’re about to do something we’ll all regret… Ren, please!” Haru’s heart began to pound.

Shadow Ren turned down to Morgana, kneeling over at the catlike creature and smiling. He then removed his mask from his face and handed it over to the feline, “Here…”

Morgana took the mask reluctantly and gasped when he realized what the shadow had truly given him, “…! W-Wait! This is—”

“My treasure…” Shadow Ren’s body began to fade in and out, “Stopping me now would be extremely foolish, and possibly extremely dire. You’ve fought Yaldabaoth directly, so surely, you’ll take this shortcut over an endless battle, no?”

“REN!” Akechi broke into a run and slid up his crimson mask over his bangs. Tears were in his eyes as he held the Fool tarot card close to his chest, “Please… tell me what you just did!”

“I’m giving you the Persona you need to defeat that damn monstrosity…” Shadow Ren stared right into Akechi’s eyes, his body engulfed by darkness and morphing into something entirely new.

The nine froze as they watched Shadow Ren’s body contort. The silhouette was nearly as huge as Yaldabaoth himself, so it couldn’t have been Arsene anymore.

Chains twirled around the mysterious being. Giant, obsidian feathers floated down as a demonic figure revealed itself to all. He appeared even more sinister than Yaldabaoth as the ultimate symbol of chaos, yet his essence and intentions were far beyond pure. He descended from the stormy sky above, blue halo shining brightly and giving off the area below a matching blue hue. A thick, crimson sash interrupted the being’s black, blue, and gold color scheme, representing freedom. A giant, clawed hand snatched the chains surrounding it and broke it into a million pieces, the pieces falling down from the sky like raindrops.

“W-What the hell, that thing’s huge!” Ryuji’s jaw dropped.

“Is it even a Persona…?!” Morgana added.

Lavenza put a finger on her chin and looked up, “It is… but, who does it belong to?”

Akechi’s eyes shimmered in amazement as the creature countered a distressed attack on Yaldabaoth’s end with ease. He whispered under his breath, “Ren… is that you?”

The creature shook his head, red eyes glinting down at the bewildered Akechi, “I am Satanael… A being greater than this faulty god… A being who farther suits the role of assuming ‘God’, in that a true immortal would side neither with law or chaos, good or evil… A spectator through and through who lets go of his creation to build their own structure rather than tampering with it for amusement. For the justice I believe in, I will oppose this sinful entity. I shall become your true mask… Goro Akechi!”

Satanael’s power envelops and intertwines with Akechi’s own abilities as the Wild Card, the tarot cards burning away deep into Akechi’s heart, invaluable just as those bonds he had created.

“Y-You…!” Yaldabaoth growled.

Akechi tore off his mask and threw it down, now in complete control of the being equal to the god’s own height and ability.

The others did the same, throwing down their masks and summoning their own ultimate Personas. They took a moment to bask in the words of the newly hopeful public before turning their gazes pridefully at Yaldabaoth.

“Heh… even when wrapped around your little finger, Ren found a way to finish his original business with you himself!” Ryuji laughed.

Morgana meowed excitedly, “Not only that, but Akechi was able to find his own purpose, two birds with one stone! I’d thank you, honestly, if it wasn’t for your awful, pathetic intents.”

“And what better finale than both Tricksters working as one?” Lavenza added.

_They’re insanely strong!_

_They’re not just Phantom Thieves anymore! That’s like some super demon lord! So awesome!!_

The words of the public continued to cheer on the Phantom Thieves. The prayers and cheers of his friends, the confidants of Ren he had met, and the general public merged together into power which would soon charge Akechi’s next attack via Satanael.

The boy closed his eyes and smiled, allowing his tears of joy to finally roll down his face, “You know, it really is nice to feel this way. I’m so happy… Ren, I wish we could stand together against this god rather than fate allowing only one of us, but just know, you are not at all to blame.”

Ren in the real world gasped, though luckily not loud enough to accumulate any attention. He looked around, but it seemed only he heard Akechi’s direct words to him. They meant everything to him in that moment of need for some sort of companion.

He was becoming weaker by the second. He limped over to the bench of a less crowded part of the street, lying down.

He was trying his best to live long enough to allow his friends to defeat the monster whose life he had sustained.

“Tch…” Yaldabaoth, meanwhile, hovered idly with his arms crossed, “You wish to rob the people’s desires?!”

Akechi’s eyes shot open with an intense look of hatred. He conjured the lust, vanity, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride of humanity into a single, lustrous beam of light at the tip of the barrel of his pistol, pointing it at the immortal being that wished to call himself a god. Satanael did the same with the giant gun attached to its limb.

“Yaldabaoth… for all of the trouble you’ve caused, both general _and_ personal… I ask you to begone! We rob the masses of the distortion you’ve enabled because that’s what makes us the Phantom Thieves of Hearts! Satanael, descend!!”

Akechi pulled the trigger with pride, sending a bullet shell composed of the seven deadly sins straight into the God of Control’s chest, the explosive boom and impact causing a ripple which surged right through his chest and made the rising sun visible through the cavity.

Yaldabaoth went dead quiet, the other eight Phantom Thieves running up to their leader and watching as the mechanical body terminated its functionality.

The clouds parted, this time the heavenly atmosphere seeming a lot more understandable now that the false god was truly defeated.

“Akechi…” Satanael’s voice changed into a vague resemblance of Ren’s, “Thank you… Thank you all, actually.”

Rather than retracted back into Akechi’s mask, the large Persona ascended into the clouds until all visibility was lost. Almost as soon as Satanael was gone, something shiny descended from his place. It was a regular-sized golden chalice with gems around its hem, but the Phantom Thieves all knew it was something more than just a cup.

“I’m guessing _this_ is the public’s treasure, then,” Morgana looked from Ren’s black-and-white domino mask down at the chalice.

“This is the purified Holy Grail…” Akechi slowly let the divine cup rest into his hands, “Society relied on it, believing it to grant all of their wishes and succumbing to the sin of sloth as a result. Supposedly, it will grant any and all wishes… so let’s make one more, and wish for this place and the damages it caused in society’s hearts to disappear for good.”

“Our powers’ll disappear,” Ryuji frowned, “Not gonna try bringing that monster back or anything, but it’ll be kinda boring now that a big part of our lives is gone.”

“It will just serve as a symbol that none of us should have this kind of power to enter a place like this,” Yusuke reminded the punk.

“It’s only natural for humans to indulge,” Makoto began, “We just shouldn’t let an indulgence be as huge as the Metaverse.”

“Damn right! If I had to go through this again, I’d just sell my Persona or somethin’!” Futaba sighed, ejecting from Prometheus for a final time and wiping the sweat from underneath her fringe.

“This is it then,” Haru got a closer look at the grail in Akechi’s hand, “Just one wish until our rehabilitation is complete.”

Ready to finally end the corrupted world of cognition even at the sacrifice of their supernatural abilities, everyone put their hands over the top of the Holy Grail. Akechi rose the divine glass in the air, the light from the morning sun reflecting off of it. A radiant light blanketed everyone’s surroundings, returning them home and rendering the Metaverse lost to history.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the epilogue wrapping everything up, such as Ren's fate, his palace's treasure, and what the future holds for Akechi as well as the others. 
> 
> // i really thank you all for giving me the motivation to continue the series (i've always sort of had a bad habit of leaving things incomplete, and school starting definitely doesn't help). the next and final chapter should be up next sunday
> 
> also, ik I mentioned it before, but it'd be really cool to see this work someday pop up in tvtropes' fanfic recs for p5 haha jk
> 
> unless??


	12. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akechi and the others return to the newly reformed reality. Saddened by Morgana's appearance, Lavenza tells them to hold their tears to investigate another problem; where Ren was in the real world. Even through the darkest of times, in the end, the group decides to turn a tragic realization into a celebration of both the world's reformation and all Ren has done for them, uniting together in Leblanc.

For once and for the final time, the group had evacuated a palace gracefully, thanks to the final wish made to the holy grail nourishing the Metaverse’s existence. At first shocked upon the sight of Qliphoth once again fused with the ordinary world, witnessing the physical erasure of the cognitive world with their own eyes greatly relieved the Phantom Thieves of their despair.

The Phantom Thieves, positioned behind Akechi upon their transportation back, first observed the crimson sky above receding back into its natural shade of cerulean. The bones randomly displaced throughout the city retracted back into the ground, even the rubble and cracks they caused in the cement of the sidewalks restoring as if they hadn’t even disturbed the industrial aesthetics in the first place. The clouds paved the way for the sun to shine all of its light onto society, the average citizens not knowing any better and fearing the apocalyptic scene they had briefly lived through suddenly freezing. A dazzling, opaline light bordered their figures and evaporated into a shimmering mist, as if society’s distortions were fully being annulled.

“I was worried at first coming back,” Akechi’s voice could barely raise itself above an allured whisper, “but this atmosphere is simply beautiful…”

Yusuke had been so captivated by what he was witnessing that he couldn’t even raise his fingers to frame it, merely whispering under his breath, “My word…”

“Y’know, it kinda freaked me out at first, but I am sure as hell glad we could all see this ourselves,” Ryuji chuckled, putting a hand on his hip and stretching his neck out.

Haru’s knees buckled, drawing her hand back to cover her mouth, “But… how could something so terrifying turn into something reminiscent of paradise itself so quickly?”

“She’s right…” Makoto agreed with Haru’s skepticism, though her expression just as mesmerized as the others’, “I’m not complaining one bit of this change, but what’s happening?”

“This whole world is a product of cognition, not just the Metaverse.”

Immediately recognizing the childlike voice, the others turned their heads around in the far distance. Morgana and Lavenza had been teleported farther back, fitting for their lack of confusion; they knew exactly what was going on.

“Morgana…” Futaba felt a strange sadness arise in her when the creature’s body faintly glowed for a split second.

Morgana closed his big, blue eyes, “It can be freely re-made, the same going for everyone who inhabits it.”

It was then when the radiant glow around him increased, Morgana’s whole body becoming transparent and fading in and out of the others’ visions.

“D-Dude!” Ryuji’s voice cracked as he shouted.

Haru’s eyes narrowed, the noble girl who hated being perceived as weak nearly fighting back her tears, “Mona-chan!”

Unlike her senior, Ann wasn’t at all afraid to let her emotions free, running to the feline with tears flying back behind her, “This can’t be happening…!”

“Ann!” Akechi dragged the girl back immediately when a huge chunk of broken asphalt flew past her to fill itself into the remaining cavities in the road caused by the Metaverse’s fusion.

“Soon, a new world will come,” Morgana continued, “One where mankind isn’t bound by their corruption. The world will shine brightly so long as you all hold hope in the core of your hearts…”

He reopened his eyes, throwing back his stubbly arms and ascending, becoming more and more transparent.

“B-But what’s going to happen to you?! Morgana!” Makoto cupped her hand next to her mouth and tried to grab him back down by the tail, her arm only going through him.

He didn’t answer, instead the corners of his mouth upturning into a resolute smile as he continued to fade away. The group simply stared, unable to do anything and too paralyzed with agony to yell.

“ _Remember, there is no such thing as the ‘real’ world. What each person sees and feels are what shape reality. This is what gives the world infinite potential… Even if you feel that only darkness lies ahead, as long as you hold hands together, see through it as one… the world will never cease! The world exists within all of you!_ ”

Akechi damned himself for his tears, fighting back his tears and desperately steadying his voice to yell in objection, “Dammit, don’t disappear…! Not after I finally gave it my all to make amends with everyone.”

“ _Ak… i…_ ” Morgana’s voice echoed the boy’s name, fading in and out with his figure until completely dissolving, the clothes of the Phantom Thieves now dispersed and replaced by their regular attires.

Something fell from the sky, presumably from Morgana’s person, and Akechi instinctively caught it with both hands when he realized it was meant for him to claim.

A few seconds passed until curiosity finally broke the natural-born detective of his grief. He shook his bangs out of his face and looked down at his hands, uncovering his left from atop the right to see what he had just caught.

Ryuji, who was watching, gasped and nearly fumbled down, “N-No way, is that—”

“The Trickster’s treasure…” Lavenza finally spoke up, joining herself closer to the others.

A pair of black, thick-framed glasses lied idly on the back of its temples. Akechi immediately affiliated them with Ren’s, the rest eventually catching on without much more of the Velvet Room assistant’s exposition.

“Ren’s glasses!” Ann pointed out with her index finger.

“The other treasures make some bit of sense… Kamoshida’s gold medal boosted his ego, Madarame’s claim over the Sayuri opening his door to fame, Shido’s legislator pin… hell, even Kaneshiro’s play money and Okumura’s little model spaceship kit makes more sense than a pair of glasses!” Ryuji’s tone was a mix between his normal short-fused impatience and pure sorrow.

“…They were never meant for visionary correction, Ryuji,” Akechi finally pieced together the logic of Ren’s own glasses doubling as his most valuable possession.

“H-How would you know?!” Ryuji’s voice boomed, “I knew him more than you…!”

“Ryuji, I do not think now is the time for—”

Akechi shook his head and sighed dourly, “It’s fine, Yusuke. He’s right; out of all of the people I’d been recurringly acquainted with, I knew him for the shortest amount of time. That’s why I kept this minuscule, mundane secret close to me, since it was one even you all were unfamiliar with.”

“W-Well, spit it out…!” Futaba tried to sound angry, but in reality, she was more desperate to comprehend everything regarding her former leader and savior’s fall into his own distortions.

He shifted his eyes back down at the glasses, still unmoved and in his gloved hand, “He told me that after his false charge leading to his eventual probation up in the city, he would mold himself into his own image of someone absolutely impossible to detest in hopes of being lifted early. He sacrificed his own personality and interests to please everyone around him.”

“But… what about the glasses?” Makoto softly asked him to continue.

Akechi let out a single, dry chuckle, “Heh… I guess to emulate a classic caricature of innocence by assuming the appearance of a stereotypical bookworm. Though, even then, I’m sure they helped him subconsciously get into the ‘act’ of whatever ‘character’ he needed to be for whoever he was about to spend time with.”

Ryuji scoffed, throwing his head back and whining, “God…! If I’d known any of that, I’d tell ‘im to snap those glasses right in half!”

“Mona-chan was constantly on Ren’s back… how cruel it is that he wasn’t when he told you that secret, Akechi…” Haru buried her head into his hands.

Akechi sniffled, “If… only I cared enough back then and wasn’t completely blinded by Shido to tell you guys.”

“M-Morgana…” Futaba squeaked.

“Is he truly gone forever…?” Yusuke comforted the upcoming second-year by rubbing her back, but his mood was just as dour.

Haru jammed his fist into her pocket and whipped out her phone to report an alarming discovery, “The Meta-Nav app’s gone as well… Mementos, the entire Metaverse must have disappeared too…”

“So Morgana really is…!” Ann couldn’t even finish her sentence without her voice breaking into a sob.

“Relax…” Ryuji stopped Ann and the others from breaking down, “Morgana’d be laughing his ass off for you guys sobbin’ like this! Seriously, we helped him see through his entire purpose! Not to mention, society’s fully healed from that crazy Metaverse shit. He wasn’t cryin’ like you guys when he went away! Hell, he was grinning!”

“R-Ryuji…” Ann wiped her tears away with her sleeves, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“…We have something more important to confirm than wasting our time here,” Lavenza commented.

The chiming voice belonging to the young girl contrasted the sophisticated wording and forlorn tone of her mysterious comment, immediately making herself the center of focus.

“What do you mean by that?” Makoto’s gaze clouded, feeling somewhat uneasy.

Lavenza turned her back and gestured the others to follow her through the central street of Shibuya, “…Come. I sense his presence here; he wouldn’t want to be alone.”

“Who?” Akechi wanted to say. He shunned himself from speaking. He had a certain idea on who Lavenza could be referring to, but wasn’t at all ready to have the answer revealed.

He tightened his fist around the glasses of the person he would soon be seeing for the last time.

The group continued to run after Lavenza in pure silence completely lost in their thoughts, aware that they were only further riding an emotional rollercoaster advancing its peak. She led them to a bench in the back alley near the currently closed Untouchable airsoft shop, but even from the distance and through their tear-inducingly blurred visions, the group recognized the body laid across the bench and sped past the young girl.

“R-REN!!” the group cried in synchronized unison.

“ _Ren_!” Akechi nearly fell to his knees as soon as he was parallel to the boy’s head. He lifted his own head and looked down at Ren’s face. His normally stylishly unkempt, wave hair was simply a scruffy mess, dirt and sweat rolling down from his forehead to the back of his neck. His glasses were naturally removed, as Akechi had them in his very hand.

“I missed you…!” Ann grabbed Ren’s hand and shook it gently, tears darkening spots on the boy’s grey hoodie.

“I-I-I’m so sorry… for all of this!” Futaba was probably the most affected, reduced to a stuttering, blubbering mess as soon as she spotted him.

“You gave so much to us… you saved me from Madarame,” Yusuke brushed back the thick, dark locks to get a clearer look of Ren’s closed eyes, “If you had only told us, or even hinted that you were suffering, we, too, would have aided you.”

Ren didn’t respond.

Makoto gently squeezed herself between Akechi and Futaba, wiping off the dirt from her junior’s cheek, “Yeah… You helped all of us. Even after you made that big mistake of siding with Yaldabaoth, I couldn’t even bring myself to _think_ about you in a negative light. You don’t… hate us, do you?”

No response.

“I’m sorry for knocking you out back there…! Could you please forgive me?!” Haru blurted out, still guilt-ridden for getting ahead of herself when the group first fought him in Mementos.

Even a simple mutter never came out from his lips.

“C’mon man, you’ve worried us enough,” Ryuji sat Ren up from underneath his shoulders and shook him, “Dude… _Dude_!”

“Hey, shouldn’t he be waking up from all this…?” Ann’s voice quavered.

Suddenly Akechi became breathless.

_No… this can’t be happening!_

_Nononono…_

_WHY?!_

Akechi thought it unfair. He thought it cruel for whatever entity ruled over the world if not Yaldabaoth to decide death was deserving for someone who nearly threw away their own identity to satisfy others, even when at some point they detested him for his indirect reformation.

 _What… did he do… to deserve this…_ Akechi’s gaped mouth snapped into a bitter snarl, hating himself more with every tear that escaped his ducts. A wave of the same self-deprecation he had felt at the beginning of his journey struck him at his most vulnerable.

“This should be me…”

“I deserve this… not him!”

He was too distracted and panicky to even realize he was giving his insecurities and other forbidden thoughts a voice, his head pounding with sharp pain. He was choking between pants, not even trying to stifle his discomposure.

“Why… I deserved to die, not him! Why… why?!” He continued to blurt out obscenities against himself until a well-intentioned action of physical contact shut him up and returned him to the harsh, but unified reality before him.

Ann, even through her own tears, tried to comfort the boy, “I-It’s not your fault… stop saying s-shit like that. He would be glad you fulfilled his original goal and survived.”

“How… How can you be so sure?” Akechi wasn’t as easy to persuade when he had already fallen down the rabbit hole of hating himself.

“B-Because, dude,” Ryuji patting Akechi’s back, “He was a total mess after you faked your death in Shido’s palace when we decided to go back ‘n take a breather in the real world for the night. That was his call, too, rather than going right ahead to send the calling card.”

“Huh?!”

“It was odd at the time to see him break down like that,” Makoto put a finger on her chin to give her own input, “Thinking back on it now, though… I’d say he let his true self slipped, even if it was only so in grievance.”

Akechi could hardly believe it, “He… _Ren_ cried after my ‘death’?”

“L-Like a baby…!” Futaba tried to lighten the mood, slapping Akechi’s back hard.

“He cared about you deeply…” Even Lavenza was tearing up over her beloved trickster’s body, though taking a moment to first comfort the one who was affected the heaviest, “Even when none of us were any the wiser that my master’s identity was being assumed by that fowl God of Control, he argued with that ‘Igor’ when he dismissed it.”

“If it wasn’t for his constant insistence that you were a broken kid like the rest of us, I probably would’ve never accepted you…” Haru uttered quietly, Futaba slightly nodding in agreement.

Much time passed, the group mourning over the body of the one who united them and saved them from their Metaverse-propagated troubles. The sun had set, and the air grew frigid and dry as the nighttime snowfall began.

“… _Achoo_!” Futaba broke the long period of silence after beginning a long fit of sneezes when a snowflake tickled the inside of her nose.

“W-Woah, hey!” Yusuke ducked down as a nasty blot of snot came firing at him.

“S-Shuddup Inar— _ACHOO_!” Futaba’s nose had become congested, giving her threats a lot less weight as she vocalized them through a nasally filter.

Makoto inched back, “…Hey, are you getting a cold, Futaba?”

“ _That_ quick?!” Ryuji shouted in disbelief.

“Wasn’t exactly the healthiest person, Ryuji,” Futaba rolled her eyes mockingly and shivered, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“We _have_ been out here for nearly hours in the cold, it’s still January,” Haru reminded the others, trying her best to prevent a fight between the two arguably loudest members of their party.

Yusuke nodded, “It is getting late… Shall we head out?”

“Uh, there’s a _dead body_ right there!” Ryuji reminded the callously sounding artist, “We can’t rest until we properly handle him. Let’s go to Leblanc… Boss man’s gotta be our best bet on what to do.”

“Poor Sojiro…” Futaba gulped, “He won’t act like it, but there’s no doubt that he’ll be a broken mess when he sees Ren like this.”

Akechi helped Ryuji stand Ren up over their shoulders, looking down at Futaba, “Better to rip the band-aid off than to let the pain fester slowly. Besides, the body’s going to rot if he isn’t embalmed. A funeral is the least Ren deserves for all he’s done for us. Let’s go.”

The eight went on foot to Leblanc, avoiding the subway so attention wouldn’t be drawn to Ren’s body. It would have normally taken hours on foot, but the eight sped nonstop without any breaks to reach Sojiro to care for Ren’s body properly.

“Welcome to Leblanc. Take a seat,” Sojiro, without looking up from his usual weekly newspaper, curtly spoke when he heard the bell of the door chime.

“Sojiro!!” Futaba bellowed.

“Wha—Futaba?” Sojiro set down the newspaper and whipped his head right towards the door, eyes filled with complete devastation and horror when he recognized the face of the hooded, bespectacled boy Akechi and Ryuji were standing up over their shoulders.

“W-What happened to him…?! Jesus!” Sojiro’s stoic composure was beginning to diminish as the warm, coffee-smelling café filled with cadaverine and putrescine.

“He—” Akechi took a long, good look at Ren’s pale, unconscious face, wincing in guilt, “He… succeeded. The Metaverse is gone, and society’s distortions are being lifted as we peak. They think for themselves now… thanks to his brave sacrifice to defeat the entity who caused all of this.”

Sojiro was too fixated on Ren to even try and comprehend what Akechi was saying, his face mixing between a varying spectrum of emotions before turning around and leaning in front of the booth, resting his head against his hand, “Jeez… I think worrying about how to explain to the kid’s parents how he died is actually the least complicated problem we have… Where’s the cat? Doesn’t he usually explain these kinda things the best to you guys?”

Futaba eyes clouded, stammering, “U-Uh… Morgana’s, uh…”

Makoto shut her eyes and shuddered, “Morgana left with the Metaverse.”

“…This is getting worse and worse.”

Emerging from the bathroom door across from the stairs to the attic, Mishima looked at the group with bright, hopeful eyes, completely oblivious to the devastating atmosphere and look of the rest.

“Y-You’re all back! So you did it! The Phantom Thieves really reformed society!” Mishima nearly tripped over a cracked floor plank. His pupils dilated as soon as they met Ann’s, “O-Oh! Takamaki-san! Sooo, Futaba here told me you’d agree to go on a—”

“Grr… Not now, Nishima!” Futaba growled.

“Huh…? W-Wait!” Mishima jumped back, recognizing Ren and his face twisting with the same terrified expression Sojiro had displayed, “That’s… Ren! What happened?! He caught on to your plan and before I knew it, he sprinted right out of Crossroads. Oh… I was so worried! But hey, you should’ve been my website! Man, the support rating for you guys were breaching a hundred percent, and—”

“He’s dead.”

Mishima stopped blabbering, nearly gagging on his own breath, “W-Wait, what?”

“It was a vicious cycle… the odds were stacked well against mere mortals like us when we chose to take on the god-like entity imprisoning society,” Yusuke explained calmly, “Ren here chose to sacrifice himself… All evil that happens now can be taken on rightfully by the police, and by their own accord rather than by the strings of an evil god’s amusement.”

Yusuke’s calmness did nothing to calm the boy, “No… no!” Mishima cried out, running up and glomping Ren. He began to bawl, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Dammit…! I should’ve chased after you… You died hating me!”

“He didn’t hate you, Mishima-san,” Makoto shook her head, trying to ease her underclassmen by rubbing his back.

“Tell the others,” Futaba told the older boy, “Shinya, Ohya, Chihaya, Hifumi, Iwai, everyone. Takemi, Kawakami and Yoshida, too. We’re going to make funeral arrangements immediately while the group’s still on winter break and since we’re officially relieved of any more Metaverse duties.”

Mishima continued to sob into Ren’s still chest, even Futaba allowing him to finish. When he finally looked up at the others, his eyes were red and a big dark stain at the center of the spot he was crying into began to drip onto his shoes. He looked down at Futaba with determination filling in his eyes, “Yeah… Yeah, I’ll do just that! I’ll take care of getting in touch with everyone… If you all need any help arranging it all before the start of Shujin’s reopening, I’ll gladly help!”

“I’ll tell Sis,” Makoto added.

The group disbanded for the night, few words spoken outside of the funeral preparations the following week. The funeral of Ren Amamiya commenced on January 12th, 2016. All of the family, friends, and other affiliates burst into tears over the person who had directly affected them positively in solving their individual problems, indirectly lifting them of any potential distortions they held deep in their hearts before meeting him. Too devastated and all needing time for themselves, the group mutually decided to take the next few days for themselves until a certain someone brought them together two days later.

It was a lazy Saturday morning in Leblanc. Sojiro had allowed Akechi to stay in Ren’s old attic for the time being. Being both an early bird and a light sleeper, Akechi found himself groggily awakened early in the morning hours before Sojiro would arrive for Leblanc’s opening. He heard a light scratching against the door to the entrance.

“ _Ngh_ … Who’s there…?” Akechi hushed bitterly. Looking past the glass, he couldn’t spot anyone loitering about on the other side, dismissing it as a prank and turning around to go back up the stairs.

The scratching occurred again, this time a lot rougher. A faint meow filled Akechi’s blocked ears, immediately waking him up when the meow turned into a familiar, shrill voice.

“Hey… hey!! This isn’t nice, you know! HEY!!”

A gruffer voice spoke afterward, “Is that a damn cat?!”

“Morgana!” Akechi sprinted back towards the door to let whoever it was who kept scratching the exterior of the entrance in, and partially so anyone outside wouldn’t file noise complaints towards Leblanc because of him.

A draft of cold air was let in when Akechi welcomed in Morgana, causing him to tremble due to only being clad in his boxers and his white button-up.

“T-T-Took you l-long enough…!” Morgana made a b-line towards the space heater at the corner of the café, curling up into a ball.

“H-Hey, don’t act so damn ungrateful, all of us assumed you were dead!” Akechi was now visibly angered.

Morgana began to lick his front paws carelessly, “Yeah, yeah… oh! The others! Call ‘em right now!”

“The others are probably still asleep…” Akechi sat down next to the cat to get his own share of the heat, “After all, we had a big day yesterday, and the cold’s definitely not helping anyone get up.”

“A majority of our group starts Shujin soon, we don’t have time!” Morgana shot up and began nuzzling up against his knee, “Call ‘em! Tell them to come quick! Oh, but don’t tell them why!”

“F-Fine, fine, just… quit licking me,” Akechi nudged the cat away and complied, pulling out his phone and texting the others immediately to meet him at noon. The boy decided to go back to bed a little while longer until his alarm went off and he decided to change, waiting for his friends to enter the café.

“Akechi… good afternoon,” Ann forced a smile, the first person to enter, followed behind Ryuji, Futaba, Makoto, Haru, Yusuke, and finally Lavenza.

Akechi smiled back, but could tell Ann’s was just as fake and desperate to hide the lingering sadness as the rest of the group’s when they entered. Even Sojiro behind the booth was notably slower at answering to his customers’ orders.

“Ugh… I’m just gonna say it bluntly,” Makoto clutched her head, “I’m sorry for not responding to you all since the funeral… I’m not in the right mind lately. Hmph, thank God I took my college entrance exams already.”

“Me too,” Haru sighed, sinking back into her seat, “And no, don’t feel guilty… We’re all shaken up still.”

“So,” Ryuji scratched his head, sitting down beside Makoto and facing Akechi, “Why’d you call us over here? If its to hang out, well… Good luck tryin’ to have a good time.”

“Well… sadly we didn’t get Ren back, but there’s someone else…” Akechi leaned back and tilted his head towards the stairs, “You can come out now.”

“Hey!” Morgana jumped table to table until finally sitting back on his hind legs at his friends’, whose distant faces were instantly replaced with shock and energy.

Ryuji stood up and slammed his hands against the table, “M-MONA?!”

“We… we thought you disappeared!” Ann’s jaw unhinged with sheer shock.

“Morgana… Even I am puzzled,” Lavenza spoke calmly, brushing a lock of fair hair behind her ear.

Morgana giggled, “Well, it seems like the only ‘me’ that vanished was my form in the Metaverse.”

“S-So you really are just a cat, then,” Akechi sheepishly laughed, finally allowing himself to sit down at the end of the table.

“Looks like it, sadly,” he heaved a sigh in response after a markedly delayed pause.

“W-Wait, so what were you doing this past week?!” Futaba shrieked, “You _missed_ Ren’s funeral!”

Morgana shook his head, “Nope! I was there… Even I wouldn’t miss that, I just stayed hidden. I _am_ a cat, after all.”

Yusuke opened his mouth to speak, but was at a complete loss for words.

“S-So what _were_ you doing?” Haru looked down at the cat disappointedly.

“Oh, just observing the changes in society,” Morgana turned his head towards the window, eyeing the crowds of people past the snowfall and fogginess of the window, “You know… At first glance, I wasn’t convinced they were changed. A guy was worried about having to pay off a mortgage for a new phone release, a girlfriend missed a date with her boyfriend…”

“…So everyone’s the same?” Akechi cynically responded.

“No, of course not!” Morgana gave a dry laugh, turning back to the eight, “Everyone’s a lot more independent. Instead of all of these sexual misconduct charges, fraud, political abuse, crimes seem to be a lot more… human. Cops are doing their jobs again.”

“I guess we really can leave the rest to us adults then,” a mature voice called out from the entrance of the café.

Makoto caught the sight of asymmetrical silvery-grey hair whipping around after the figure closed the door behind her, “S-Sis?!”

“Not just me,” Sae casually entered the café, ignoring the collective stupefaction of the nine.

Mishima, Shiho, Hifumi, Shinya, Kawakami, Takemi, Ohya, Chihaya, Yoshida, and Iwai entered Leblanc behind Sae.

“You’re all…” Akechi only became even more shocked and confused.

“One plain, black coffee,” Iwai sat himself down at the far end of the booth.

Shinya jumped up at the seat next to the gun enthusiast, having clearly taken a liking to him and his profession after meeting him at Ren’s funeral. “Uh, same thing, old man!” he asked for the same order.

“Got any alcohol here?” Ohya asked Sojiro before sitting herself down.

“Alcohol this early?” Takemi smirked at the news reporter, “Heh, I’d like to call myself the competitive type; don’t make me beat you.”

Sojiro stared wide-eyed between Ohya and Iwai, “T-These many customers?! I-I mean, I’m not complaining, but—”

“Ah, Ann!” Shiho exclaimed, running up and hugging her best friend.

“S-Shiho?!” Despite her shock, Ann couldn’t help but reciprocate, “Ah, I missed you so much!”

“What exactly is going on here?” Yusuke recognized the face of his fellow classmate, Hifumi Togo, who smiled at him softly.

Hifumi sprawled her arms out, “Ah, Kitagawa-san! And Akechi-kun! What is this divine intervention that we would all be acquainted here?”

“‘All’?” Makoto cocked a brow, “I’m sorry, I’m lost.”

“I guess it was something only I noticed back at the boy’s funeral,” Sae sat down next to her younger sister and began to explain, “Even through death, it appears he has a rather unique skill of uniting people. We all began mingling during the procession. The Oda boy’s mother had to leave early, so he wound up carpooling with Iwai-san. My own car ran out of gas, so I joined them. Ohya-san was… intoxicated, Takemi-san crashed her car a couple of days back, Kawakami-san’s legs got tired, Yoshida-san wasn’t at all in any position to drive, and naturally, Mishima-san, Togo-san, and Shiho-san are too young to drive.”

“Woah, woah, woah, that sounds _way_ too convenient!” Ryuji was still bug-eyed.

“You call it convenient, but I call it a sign from the gods!” Chihaya exclaimed, unpacking her tarot card deck, “I believe even eclipsed by Death, the Fool is able to overcome a seemingly game-ending tragedy. Even in death, he is able to bring hope unto others.”

“Exactly,” Kawakami sat down next to Ryuji, making him noticeably uncomfortable, “Ren’s always had his ways. I guess his charm just sorta rubbed off on the rest of us.”

“Indeed! That boy has always had an unnatural amount of charisma,” Yoshida added.

Akechi looked over the café. Just a couple of hours prior, it was just him and Morgana, but now it was barely holding the twenty-one customers. He stared awestruck at people he would hardly expect being friends getting along. He wished he could experience such a miracle with Ren, but a gut feeling told him that the one who caused all of this was watching over all of them.

“Are you alright, Akechi?” Sae leaned back and crossed her arms, catching Akechi’s attention.

Akechi cleared his throat, “Ah, yeah… I’m just… fascinated, is all.”

“I’d be if I were you,” Sae’s lips quirked upright, “You made all this happen, after all.”

The ex-coworker shook his head, “N-No… Really, I only acted like a figurehead in Ren’s place. He deserves credit.”

“Well, whatever the case may be, you’ve been of great assistance,” Sae pulled out a large, beige flat with his name placed underneath Shido’s in black marker, spinning it around and pushing it forward for the detective to view, “As in… I may leave your name out of this case file.”

“H-Huh…? Do you mean the one for sending Shido behind bars? Wouldn’t that make things irrationally more difficult?” Akechi looked up at Sae concerningly.

She trembled and heaved a long, drawn-out exhale, “Yes… Turning it in as if what with society finally being lifted of their dependencies would be extremely beneficial and almost ensure that he would be imprisoned.”

“W-Well, then leave my name in it!” Akechi hadn’t realized his voice had escalated into a yell near the end, drawing a slight bit of attention.

“You’re just a kid, and you’ve been through enough given Shido’s metaphorical leash over your neck for years. You’re the reason I could turn in practically anything against Shido and get positive recognition over it, I can’t—”

“If you don’t, then I’m turning myself in and testifying for myself. I was going to do that anyway after finishing Ren’s mission,” Akechi cut his superior off.

“Akechi, no! Seriously, we already lost one person!” Ann argued, staring him right in the eyes with fury.

Akechi shook his head, “I’m sorry Ann. I’m doing this. Anything to put that man behind bars quicker.”

“ _Goro_ —!”

“Ann, let him!” Ryuji yelled. He faced Akechi with a grin, “…And no, not because I ‘hate’ you, you goddamn pussy. You’re the only one who can put him to jail, and I know damn well that you’re gonna feel like trash if you live your life letting him go. Do it now before the punishment isn’t just juvie hall.”

“Couldn’t have said it any better myself, Ryuji,” Akechi chuckled. He turned to Sae, “I’m ready for this. Trust me. With Ren gone, I’m the only other person who can properly testify against him.”

“That’s right. I’m sorry for what you’ll soon be going through, though,” Sae repeatedly rubbed at her face awkwardly.

“It’s quite alright with me.”

Ryuji threw his hands up in the air, “Woo! Ain’t this call for a celebration? Everyone’s here, and society has successfully been reformed, yeah?”

“A celebration in these times?!” Ryuji could hear the raw anger shot through Yusuke and the others when they closed him in on his seat.

“Ease off him,” Morgana jumped up and swatted Makoto’s hand with his paw, “We just finished saving the world, finishing what Ren started. He’d want us to celebrate, and would probably call for one himself before Akechi turns himself in.”

“He’s… he’s right!” Futaba jumped back, wiping away her tears, “We’ve cried too much.”

“The Trickster forfeited his own happiness to solidify ours, after all,” Lavenza sniffled and joined Futaba.

“Drinks are on me,” Haru opened up her purse.

Makoto walked away from the table altogether and peered out the window, merely being around it causing her goosebumps, “It’s a blizzard out there… Looks like either way we’re stuck here. Might as well make it count.”

“That’s right…!” Ann closed her eyes and held her hand to her chest, “We just ended the source of all our problems, we should be happier than this.”

Yusuke peered down at Ryuji, backing off and wiping his brow, “…My apologies, Ryu—”

Ryuji shot up and slapped Yusuke against the back, shooting him a wide, cheek-to-cheek grin, “Don’t be sorry man, seeing you get fired up over something actually normal is a lot more relieving than ya think!”

“That’s—hey! Just what are you inferring by that?!”

Akechi was the last to get up, but Sae caught his hand and stopped him midway.

“Sae-san?” He jerked his head around and looked into the woman’s almond eyes.

“Akechi, I’m… proud,” Sae paused, laughing quietly to herself, “I never expected things to go this well for you. I have to admit, at first I was seething with envy towards you and your popularity, but reading up on your past when you were away… piecing everything together made your story a lot more tragic.”

“I’m guessing you aren’t feeling so envious anymore, huh?” he emitted a dry laugh.

“Go on and have fun.”

As he pushed the rest of his body up from the seat, he felt something sticking out of his peacoat’s pocket.

Ren’s glasses.

 _How did this get here…?_ As if to find an answer, Akechi continued fumbling through his pockets until finding a small, scrap of paper simply reading off five words in familiar calligraphy.

“ _Thank you for saving me._ ”


End file.
